13. Experimental Surgery
Desperate for solutions, some 19th-century asylum doctors turned to unproven and dangerous surgical interventions. Early forms of lobotomy—destroying parts of the brain thought to cause mental illness—and trepanning, which involved drilling holes in the skull, were sometimes performed on helpless patients. With little understanding of the brain, these procedures were essentially medical experiments, often resulting in severe cognitive impairment, infection, or death. Rather than healing, experimental surgery typically left patients far worse off than before.
