In the past, this treatment was used for treating psychiatric disorders as a mainstream procedure in some countries. The procedure was controversial from its initial use, in part due to a lack of recognition of the severity and chronicity of severe and enduring psychiatric illnesses , so it was said to be an inappropriate treatment.
The use of the procedure increased dramatically from the early s and into the s; by , almost 20, lobotomies had been performed in the United States and proportionally more in the United Kingdom. Historically, patients of frontal lobotomy were, immediately following surgery, often stuporous and incontinent.
Some developed an enormous appetite and gained considerable weight. Seizures were another common complication of surgery. Emphasis was put on the training of patients in the weeks and months following surgery. The purpose of the operation was to reduce the symptoms of mental disorders , and it was recognized that this was accomplished at the expense of a person's personality and intellect.
British psychiatrist Maurice Partridge, who conducted a follow-up study of patients, said the treatment achieved its effects by "reducing the complexity of psychic life". Following the operation, spontaneity, responsiveness, self-awareness, and self-control were reduced. The activity was replaced by inertia, and people were mostly left emotionally blunted and restricted in their intellectual range.
The consequences of the operation have been described as "mixed". Others could leave the hospital or become more manageable within the hospital. The frontal lobotomy procedure could have severe negative effects on a patient's personality and ability to function independently. Walter Freeman coined the term "surgically induced childhood" and used it constantly to refer to the results of lobotomy.
