Psychology 9-23-2008

Transorbital Lobotomy Experiment

My hypothesis is clearly stated that the transorbital lobotomy does not cure or reduce symptoms of schizophrenia. I do not think that the insertion of long, sharp picks will fix anything neurological. With my independent variable being the lobotomy itself and the dependent variable being the reaction of the patients after the lobotomy has or, in some cases, has not been performed.
I will have two groups of fifty schizophrenia patients each. The groups will be chosen at randoms so as to have a representative sample. They will be fully notified that there is a group who will go under the actual lobotomy and there is another group that will be taken under the same procedure but not have the full lobotomy. That way they won't be able to tell if they have had the lobotomy or not and will have to tell their true feelings because they will not know if they have actually had the lobotomy or not.
Each group will have a Schizophrenic Symptom Checklist filled out about them by a nurse and then they will be taken in random order for 15 minutes each.
When a patient is to receive the lobotomy, they will be put to sleep and then have a leucotome inserted into the transorbital cavity and then stuck through the top of the skull at the same angle for every patient and then pushed thirty degrees to the left and right. The leucotome will then be eased out and the eye will be covered with gauze. This will be done with each eye socket.
When a patient is not to receive the lobotomy, they will be put to sleep and then have a leucotome inserted into the transobital cavity but only placed to the top of the cavity and not through the skull. The leucotome will then be eased out and the eye will be covered with gauze. This will also be done with each eye socket.
Each individual will be given their own separate room with no medication for the exception of a pain killer. The room will have one way windows so that I may be able to observe their visible behavior. They will all be under the watch of nurses that have no idea which patients have had the lobotomy and which ones haven't. Using the double-blind procedure will keep the patients from trying to answer the 'right' way. The same nurse that filled out the Schizophrenic Symptom Checklist for a patient will fill out another one the next day for the patient again. After each patient has been observed and had another Schizophrenic Symptom Checklist filled out about them, a group of scientists that also don't know which ones have had the lobotomy will analyze the data and decide if each patient had gotten better. After much consideration of the observations, I will reveal to the scientists which ones have actually had the lobotomy and which ones haven't. We will then finalize whether the lobotomy had effective results.