George (whose last name is unknown) was an Obsessive-Cumpulssive Disorder (OCD) patience. Back in the ‘80s, George was a hardworking Canadian high school student who suddenly developed an irrational fear of germs. He started washing his hands hundreds of times every day and was constantly taking showers. Despite his trips to the local hospital, George couldn’t get his disorder under control, and he was eventually forced to leave school and quit his part-time job.
Finally, in 1983, George decided to take matters into his own impeccably clean hands. Depressed and paralyzed with fear, he told his mother he couldn’t go on anymore. As a sensitive woman who greatly cared for her son, she responded with, “If your life is so wretched, just go and shoot yourself.†And that’s exactly what George did. He grabbed a pistol, stuck it in his mouth, and pulled the trigger.
The bullet tore through his skull and slammed into his left front lobe—the part of his brain responsible for his OCD. Fortunately, George survived, and when he awoke from surgery, he found that his fear of microbes had disappeared along with a chunk of his brain. He’d cured himself with a lobotomy by gunshot. He still had to take medications for depression, but his overwhelming compulsions were gone. And this is where we need to put a little disclaimer: Don’t try this at home.