Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-06-06

urS, or pdrdSlLlCdl ONeTgTOWun,
according to the claims of some
psychiatrist cited by DR.. Theodore C.
Erickson of Montreal in a symposium
before the American Medical Asso-
citation here yesterday.
Man worries about death. damna-
ton and the future of his family
until he goes crazy.
Idea Originated 7 Years Ago.
Seven years ago Dr., Egaz Monlz
of Lisbon, Portugal, had the idea OF
partially disconnecting these from
tai lobes by boring holes in the
brain, as a treatment of certain
types of insanity brought about by
worry.
The idea appealed to two Wash
ington doctors, Walter Freeman and
James w. Watts. One of their first
operations on the psyche of a
human being was performed the
morning after the 1886 presidential
election. The patient was Gov
eminent stenographer.
Seen the day before in her hos
pital room she had presented a
picture of wild terror. The devil,
she said, was standing over her bed.
He was threatening to take her to
hell.
The morning after the operation
she was sitting up in bed reading a
detective story magazine. rs the
devil still here" DR.. Freeman asked
her.
oh sure" she said. Don't you
see him over there in the corner.
Ha, ha, ha."
What is he saying?"
Hes going to take me TO hell.
Ha, ha. ha."
In other words, the girl no longer
was concerned about the devil.
Returns to Work.
In few days he had departed
altogether and she returned to work.
Perhaps few developments in
medical history have aroused more
controversy than these psyche
operations" They have slowly
gained ground, however. all over the
United States in the treatment of
certain types of daily work who
otherwise would be a burden TO
society in mental institutions.
The big point of controversy is
that the chief effect of the opera
ton is a shock"
Similar results, psychiatriSts have
asserted, can be brought about by
Il
in the brain--for example, throwing
patients into commissions with in
Sulin, metralZol or electric shocks
With all these methods sensational
successes have been reported.
Yesterday afternoon the whole
question was argued before the
medical association by a panel
made up of some of the colmtry's
foremost euro-surgeons-Dr Free
man, DR.. Erickson. DR.. M. A.
Tarumianz of the Delaware State
Hospital, DR.. J. S. Lyerly of Jack
sonville, Fla: DR.. H. D. Palmer of
Philadelphia and DR.. Roy D. Grink-
er of Chicago.
DR.. Lyerly has worked chiefly
with women with involutional mel
anChOlia-the episode of extreme
depression that comes to mothers
of families in the middle of life
and often results in suicide. Nearly
all these operations, he reported,
were successful. Many of the
women were able to return home
as we'll as they ever had been.
Others were discharged from men,
tai institutions and led relatively
normal lives.
Even more striking was the ex-
perience reported by DR.. Tarumianz
in the Delaware State Hospital
With some difficulty permission was
obtained to operate on some cases
which seemed HOPELESS. on whom all
the shock trea tments had been used
with little effect DR.. Tarumianz
calculated that with 80 or 40 opera
tons a year. making allowance for
some failures. Delaware would save
more than half a million dollars in
10 years.
The rationale of the operation was
defended cautiously by DR.. Free
man. its chief exponent in this
country. One of the most notice
able observable results, it was
stressed, is the notable gain in