anyone ever read the true story of Rosemary Kennedy?

[Mari333]

when I was a kid I was always told that one of the many Kennedy children was mentally retarded and was sent away to a home.
It was more then that, evidently. she was prone to mood swings and was given a frontal lobotomy which left her completely incapacitated. Before that, she was able to function . It was kept a secret for years.
pre lobotomy picture:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_Kennedy

[SoCalDem]

1. Ole Joe was a pip, wasn't he?

Too bad she was born when she was.. These days she would have just been another quirky, interesting person..

[Crunchy Frog]

2. Unbelievably horrific, what was done to her.

Learning about it has certainly made the Kennedy patriarch appear like a monster to me.

As nearly as I can tell, the biggest reason for the lobotomy was the she had the Kennedy sex drive, and that, and being female, did not mix. :puke:

[Mari333]

3. my mom was given electric shock treatments back in 72

because she didnt behave in a docile manner. in retrospect, i pieced together that she had had a complete hysterectomy, and was never given any hormones. of course she went crazy, and rather then help her, some shrink fried her brain.
she was so out of it back then, she didnt even resemble my mom.
i guess women who didnt behave back then just didnt have a chance when the psychiatric community got involved.

[jaxx]

4. I read that he didn't tell Rose about the lobotomy until later.

It was barbaric how they treated developmental disabilities back then. Rosemary was the reason the Kennedys started Special Olympics. One good thing came out of it.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Ironically it was Gloria Swanson, Joe's mistress who tried to intervene.

She made the case for a macrobiotic diet to help Rosemary and it actually enraged Joe. He was set on the surgery as a miracle.

[midnight]

6. People wonder how a father with limiltess resources would

have experimental surgery on one of his own children? Who truely can speak for this father? Rosemary had a long ongoing developmental problem. While it does appear from secondary sources that the father acted on his own, we have only speculation to review at this time. This father like many do the best they can.

The way we deal with mental illness in this country is still unacceptable.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Not to justify this in any way,

but it was a common practice for many years to lobotomize people with retardation.

[LeftishBrit]

8. Sadly, yes

It is one of the great scandals of psychology/psychiatry. Yet at one time many people accepted it. The Portuguese neurologist Egaz Moniz, who devised the form of it most commonly used in the USA, was actually awarded the Nobel Prize in 1955.