In the mid-20th century, doctors believed mental illness could be cured by severing connections in the brain.The results were immediate.Patients became calm.Wards grew quiet.Institutions regained control.Pre-frontal lobotomy was not hidden medicine. It was published, taught, exported, and celebrated — even awarded the highest honor in science.This short case file examines how a procedure that erased resistance was mistaken for recovery, and why silence was accepted as proof of success.

In the mid-20th century, doctors deliberately pushed psychiatric patients into life-threatening comas.They believed extreme shock could interrupt mental illness and restore order to the brain.Insulin Shock Therapy was not fringe medicine.It was taught, endorsed, and repeated for years inside respected hospitals.This video examines how a dangerous procedure became standard care — and why it took so long to stop.

At one hospital, patients began improving after their teeth were removed.This was recorded as success.Henry Cotton was a respected psychiatrist and superintendent of a state hospital. His methods were not fringe medicine — they were endorsed, documented, and defended as effective treatment.Cotton believed mental illness was caused by hidden infections. When patients became quieter and more compliant after procedures, the institution called it recovery.Many patients died. Others were permanently harmed. But the practice continued because the metric was obedience, not health.This short case file examines how authority, consensus, and misread outcomes allowed harm to persist inside mainstream medicine.