In 1960, twelve-year-old Howard Dully underwent a transorbital lobotomy at his stepmother’s urging, though few believed he was schizophrenic. Dr. Walter Freeman, the “father of the lobotomy,” performed the surgery with his father’s consent, inserting an orbitoclast through Howard’s eye sockets to sever frontal lobe connections. Howard awoke disoriented and traumatized. His childhood collapsed—he was removed from his family, cycled through institutions and prisons, and struggled with alcoholism a

Howard Dully | American Experience | PBS

Man Who Was Lobotomized At Age 12 Speaks Out

History Everyday on Instagram: "Howard Dully (November 30, 1948 – February 11, 2025) was one of the youngest survivors of the transorbital lobotomy, a procedure performed on him when he was 12 years old. Neurologist Walter Freeman had diagnosed Dully as suffering from childhood schizophrenia since age four, although numerous other medical and psychiatric professionals who had seen Dully did not detect a psychiatric disorder and instead blamed poor parenting by his stepmother. In 1960, at 12 year