Background Information

Ken Kesey
Born 1935, Died 2001 (complications from liver cancer)
Grew up in Eugene, Oregon Graduated University of Oregon, won scholarship

from Stanford University but dropped out Married Faye Haxby in 1956 (had four children) Merry Pranksters Fled to Mexico in 1965 after some trouble with the law
Unsuccessfully faked suicide Returned to US and spent five months in jail

Ken Kesey
Paid to take part in experimental trials in a veterans

hospital
Took mind-altering drugs Reported on their effects

Hallucinations

Experiences in the hospital formed the basis for One

Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Took peyote and other hallucinogenic drugs while

writing

The Merry Pranksters

Counterculture fought for free thinking and

spontaneity Influenced by the Beat Generation (Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, etc.)
The MP met Kerouac, but he did not embrace the new

counterculture generation b/c of the hard drugs

Traveled around the country in Keseys bus called

Further (filmed almost every moment of trip) Tried to turn as many Americans on to LSD as possible (legal until 1966, so the police couldnt charge them for anything)

Film Version of Cuckoos Nest

Filmed in 1975 Kesey hated it Hated Jack Nicholson in the role Hated the changes from the novel to film Sued the producers Won five Oscars (the big ones!) Best Actor (Jack Nicholson) Best Actress (Louise Fletcher) Best Director (Milos Forman) Best Writing, Screenplay Best Picture

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

Formerly called electroshock therapy (EST) shock shop in Cuckoos Nest Treatment for mental illness Severe depression Psychosis Suicidal tendencies and/or refusal to eat Schizophrenia Mania that has not improved with medications

History of ECT
Began in 1930s
Researchers injected chemicals in patients to induce

seizures
Researchers think that seizures can change brain

chemistry (still not sure how it works today)

Chemicals were soon replaced by electrical currents No anesthetics or muscle relaxers PAINFUL!

Caused seizures so powerful they could break bones

ECT Today
For use when medication and other treatments have

failed Still risky, but relatively safe Side effects and complications
Memory loss Confusion

Currents are more precise and calculated to parts of

the brain

The Lobotomy
Lobotomy = lobe cutting
Used to calm aggressive patients Often made them zombie like

History of the Lobotomy

Carlyle Jacobson & John Fulton (1930s) Discovered that chimpanzees became less aggressive when he damaged their frontal and prefrontal cortex by means of a lobotomy (did not lose other brain functions) Walter Freeman & James Watts (1936) Leucotomy (white matter cutting)

Open several small holes in two sides of the brain Insert wire knife into brain substance Severed fibers with a few sideways movements Improved symptoms in agitated and depressed patients

History of the Lobotomy

Freeman didnt like the messiness of the procedure
Invented ice-pick lobotomy (took only a few

minutes)
Hammered an ice-pick-like tool through eye sockets Ice pick would perforate skin, subcutaneous tissue, and

bone in a single plunge Swing ice pick to sever prefrontal lobe

Many doctors refused to perform the surgery

Watts became so disgusted with the procedure that he

broke ties with Freeman

History of the Lobotomy

Evidence supporting success of lobotomy (1950) One third improved One third stayed the same One third got worse Psychological and emotional effects of the surgery
Congressional Committee (1977) Researched lobotomies proposed that they were used to control minorities and restrain individual rights

WARNING
The images on the next slides

may be disturbing! Turn your head and close your eyes if you think it will upset you to see. There will be images of patients receiving ice-pick lobotomies.

The Lobotomy Today

Rarely, if ever used

The Lobotomy in Literature

Tennessee Williams Sister was lobotomized when he was away at school Never got over his guilt for not stopping it (even though he didnt know about it) Mental illness and lobotomy is a major theme in his play Suddenly Last Summer Planet of the Apes Apes lobotomized missing astronaut Ken Kesey One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Works Cited
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/electroconvulsive-

therapy/MH00022 http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n02/historia/loboto my.htm http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kkesey.htm http://www.wisegeek.com/who-were-the-merrypranksters.htm