You Can’t Commit Violence Against an Object: Women, Psychiatry and Psychosurgery

Abstract

I have worked in the area of mental health for fifteen years. Since 1977, I have been systematically gathering information on leucotomised patients with whom I have come into contact. All the clients mentioned attended a rehabilitation day centre over a ten-year period. Their case reports were read and they were interviewed in order to understand how a leucotomy could affect their lives and functioning, and why such drastic treatment was deemed necessary. The client group was composed of ten women and one man, out of which a sample has been chosen to be considered more fully.