Lindsey FitzharrisVerified account

@DrLindseyFitz

Storyteller. Medical historian (Oxford, PhD). Conveyor of strange & gruesome history. Author: THE BUTCHERING ART. Winner 2018 PEN Award. IG: DrLindseyFitzharris

United Kingdom
Joined December 2010
Born 11 May

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  1. Pinned Tweet

    I’m excited to announce that my NEXT BOOK will be on the birth of plastic surgery told through the incredible story of Harold Gillies, the pioneering surgeon who first united art & medicine to address the horrific injures that resulted from WW1. More info:

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  2. Retweeted
    Jan 4

    We’re v nearly at 700 followers, can you spread the word and help us get there? We’re a non-profit encouraging the development of young historians of African and Caribbean heritage in Britain ✊🏾

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  3. Retweeted

    (1/14) A short thread on the sad HISTORY OF LOBOTOMIES 👇👇On 12 November 1935, a Portuguese neurologist named Antonio Egas Moniz became the first individual to perform what would later be known as a lobotomy.

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  4. Retweeted
    33 minutes ago

    Here's a bouquet of thumbnail work of various historical figures, painted a while back for QI. Bonus points if you can name them all. (Full disclosure: I can't.)

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  5. Retweeted

    Did you know that postmortem photography extended to dead pets in the Victorian period? Here’s a rare example of a beloved dog surrounded by his grieving family in one last portrait, late 19th century. I think you’ll agree: it’s pretty special.

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  6. (14/14) Thanks for reading! Although this is a sad subject, I hope you found it interesting. Enjoy your weekend and remember: stay creepy, Twitter. 🖤💀

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  7. (13/14) A memoir was also written by former patient Howard Dully. MY LOBOTOMY documents his experiences with Freeman and his long recovery after undergoing a lobotomy surgery at 12 years of age.

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  8. (12/14) The lobotomy eventually came under attack from the medical community. By the 1970s, several countries had banned the procedure altogether. For an excellent history on the subject, check out this book by .

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  9. (11/14) Over the course of four decades, Freeman performed nearly 3,500 lobotomies despite the fact that he had no surgical training. He eventually retired the lobotomobile and opened a private practice in California. Contrary to popular belief, he never lost his license.

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  10. (10/14) Her father institutionalized her, saying his daughter was mentally retarded rather than admitting her condition was due to a failed brain operation. It was only after his death decades later that the truth behind her condition was revealed. This is her, later in life.

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  11. (9/14) It soon became clear that something had gone terribly wrong. Rosemary could no longer speak, and her mental capacity was equivalent to that of a toddler.

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  12. (8/14) Rosemary was described by members of her family as a rebellious child who was prone to violent mood swings while growing up. In November 1941, Rosemary’s father took her to see Freeman, who performed the lobotomy right then and there, without her mother’s knowledge.

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  13. (7/14) Eventually, he began performing the operation in his van—which people later called “the lobotomobile.” At one point, he undertook 25 lobotomies in a single day. Many of his patients never recovered, including Rosemary Kennedy, sister to JFK.

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  14. (6/14) Freeman took to the roads with his ice-pick & hammer, touring hospitals and mental institutions around the country. He performed ice-pick lobotomies for all kinds of conditions, including headaches.

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  15. (5/14) Later, Freeman created the transorbital lobotomy in which a pick-like instrument was forced thru the back of the eye socket to pierce the thin bone that separates it from the frontal lobes. The “ice-pick” lobotomy could be performed in under 10 minutes without anesthetic.

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  16. (4/14) During this time, Moniz’s procedure was adopted (and adapted) by the American neuropsychiatrist Walter Freeman, who performed the first lobotomy in the United States in 1936. Freeman soon won acclaim for his technique.

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  17. (3/14) It put an end to the therapeutic nihilism that dominated the psychiatric profession in the Victorian era. Suddenly, doctors believed they could “cure” the previous incurable. Within a decade, Moniz was awarded a Nobel Prize for his role in developing it.

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  18. (2/14) Moniz’s early experiments involved drilling holes into patients’ skulls & pouring alcohol into the frontal cortex to sever nerves; and coring out regions of the brain with hollow needles. Moniz’s lobotomy quickly became a popular treatment for various mental conditions.

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  19. (1/14) A short thread on the sad HISTORY OF LOBOTOMIES 👇👇On 12 November 1935, a Portuguese neurologist named Antonio Egas Moniz became the first individual to perform what would later be known as a lobotomy.

    Show this thread
    Undo
  20. Retweeted
    19 hours ago

    *extremely important historian of sex voice*: Nice.

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  21. Retweeted

    All the education without the blood! Check out this incredibly detailed DISSECTED LEGO FROG by Dave Kaleta. Happy Friday, Twitter!

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