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study critique (268) book review (219) psychiatry (73) medical ethics (38) bad science (30) mental illness (12) medical history (11) FDA regulation (10) media influence (4) institutional failure (2) psychosurgery (2) ECT (2)

Your Book Review: Great And Desperate Cures

A review of 'Great and Desperate Cures' by Elliot Valenstein, which examines the history of lobotomy and psychosurgery, explaining how tens of thousands of patients underwent dangerous brain operations from the 1930s-1950s despite poor evidence of effectiveness.

acx
Jul 17, 2026 20,439 words 214 likes 192 comments Listen · 147 min Read Read
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