frontal lobotomy

n. A surgical procedure in which the connections between the frontal lobe and the rest of the brain are cut or in which part or all of the frontal lobe is removed. This surgical procedure was used in attempts to cure depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy, anxiety, aggressiveness, and pain but was discontinued in the 1950s after it was generally accepted that it produced a kind of generalized apathy and lack of self-direction. Also called a frontal leucotomy.