First few Article Sentences
Not long ago, health care practitioners treated mental illness by severing connections in the brain's prefrontal cortex. Surgeons employed this procedure known as "the lobotomy" to reduce symptoms of mental disorder. Those who survived the lobotomy sometimes experienced relief from mental illness as well as less spontaneity, responsiveness, self-awareness and self-control. While the lobotomy has drifted off to medical obscurity, 75 years later an estimated 20 million Americans still embrace the idea that restricting the intellectual and emotional range of the sick mind also cures it.