Rosemary Kennedy, Ted’s sister Robert and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was the victim of one of the most terrible psychiatric techniques of her time: lobotomy.
The history of lobotomy is still too recent to be forgotten, for much of the twentieth century this was the technique used to correct diseases such as schizophrenia, depression and behaviors considered violent.
- One of the greatest followers of this technique was Walter Freeman.
- A physician who perfected Egas Moniz’s original technique and performed more than 3.
- 000 lobotomies; up to 25 lobotomies per day.
- He spent much of his life trying to prove that this technique was really beneficial to his patients.
But was lobotomy an appropriate way to solve violent behavior and diseases such as schizophrenia?The section of nerve pathways between the frontal lobe and subcortical nuclei did not prevent aggressive patient behavior; later, antipsychotics and chlorpromazine opened up a new therapeutic field. the lobotomy had already left a trail of anonymous victims; victims who emerged from the darkness and many of them were not as unknown, as was the case with Rosemary Kennedy.
Rosemary was the third in the Kennedy family, sister of John Fitzgerald and six other siblings, was the slowest and least brilliant of them all, had dyslexia and, according to the descriptions of the time, a slight mental retardation. plus the tough internal competence in the family, where the brothers spent their studies and enjoyed social recognition. When he reached adolescence, problems worsened and behaviors became complicated, protests and discussions began.
His siblings were his father’s favorites, Joe Kennedy, who didn’t accept a less capable and less troubled girl, but the situation got worse when Rosemary started running away from home, arriving every day with another boyfriend and not doing well at school. Her father could accept that her children had the lovers they wanted, but she feared Rosemary would get pregnant; a scandal that would tarnish his public image. So, what do we do?
They contacted Dr. Walter Freeman and his revolutionary technique to correct the young woman’s aggressive and inappropriate behavior, with which Joe Kennedy also hoped to increase her daughter’s IQ, all the brothers and much of the family opposed this intervention. but no one dared discuss the decisions of the patriarch of the family.
Rosemary was 23 when she was lobotomized in 1941, and the surgery was performed so cruelly that one of the nurses who participated in the procedure left her job the next day, but what was the purpose of this intervention?After this operation, Rosemary Kennedy reached the mental age of a three-year-old girl.
After Joe Kennedy saw the outcome of the process, he made a quick decision: Rosemary would cease to exist publicly. For a time, they said she worked as a teacher in Wisconsin, then had meningitis and was therefore hospitalized. But the reality was much, sadder; She’s spent her whole life in sanatoriums all over America. They say his father never regretted the decision. At the time, her children’s political career was beginning to emerge and the figure of someone like Rosemary could be harmful.
It was in October 1975 when the truth came out with the title “Discovering the invisible Kennedy. ” Rosemary was taken to a church service and she ran away without the nurses or her family noticing. A journalist followed her and realized what was happening. At the time, she was 57 years old and in prison at the St. Colette Convent, Wisconsin.
A sad story and an example of one of the most incomprehensible psychiatric techniques in history. Rosemary Kennedy died in 2005, unans knew she was one of the few survivors of this family so full of successes and tragedies.