Last resort? Lobotomy operations in Israel, 1946–60

Rakefet Zalashik (1) , Nadav Davidovitch (2)

1 TAU - Tel Aviv University
2 Department of Health Systems Management

In this paper we examine lobotomy operations in mandatory Palestine and Israel between 1946 and 1960. The aim is to reconstruct the circumstances in which these operations were done, and to examine: which patients were lobotomized and why; how lobotomy was perceived by the local psychiatric profession; and the reasons for its decline. Apart from shedding new light on the history of lobotomy, which is usually analysed from the viewpoint of the USA and Europe, this study provides an opportunity to investigate the relation between various concepts of the healthy and ill body in the unique context of Israel, as an immigrant country influenced by its Zionist ideology.

Mots clés: history of the body; immigration and health; Israel; lobotomy; psychiatry; Zionism

Rakefet Zalashik, Nadav Davidovitch. Last resort? Lobotomy operations in Israel, 1946–60. History of Psychiatry, 2006, 17 (1), pp.91-106. ⟨10.1177/0957154X06058593⟩. ⟨hal-00570839⟩