Are there any countries where lobotomies are still commonly performed in 2025?

1. The practice that shocked the 20th century — now largely retired

Lobotomy was once a mainstream psychiatric operation: surgeons performed tens of thousands of procedures worldwide in the 1930s–1960s, with more than 20,000 in the UK and over 40,000–50,000 in the US during that era ^{[4] [5] [7]}. Medicine’s embrace of the operation peaked with figures like Egas Moniz — who won a Nobel in 1949 for leucotomy — and Walter Freeman, who popularized the rapid transorbital variant ^{[8] [4] [9]}.

2. Why lobotomy disappeared from mainstream care

Reporting and medical summaries say lobotomy was superseded by safer, more effective treatments — psychiatric medications and refined neurosurgical techniques — and by recognition of severe harms, including degraded personality and high complication rates ^{[6] [1] [3]}. Modern psychosurgery is narrower and more controlled; some targeted brain procedures are still used in rare, highly regulated cases, but these are not the crude frontal lobotomies of the mid‑20th century ^{[1] [3] [2]}.

3. Current sources describe lobotomies as “no longer performed” or “rare”

Health outlets and medical explainers uniformly characterize frontal lobotomies as obsolete. Healthline states “Lobotomies are no longer performed” and that modern psychosurgeries are used only in rare circumstances ^[1]. Verywell Health, Verywell and other recent summaries similarly say frontal lobotomies are no longer routine and that psychosurgery today is far more limited and specific ^{[2] [3]}.

4. Do any countries still perform lobotomies now? — What the available reporting says

None of the provided sources identify a country in 2025 where classical lobotomies are commonly practiced. Contemporary overviews and retrospectives emphasize historical use and decline but do not document ongoing, widespread use of frontal lobotomies in any nation ^{[1] [3] [2]}. Discussion threads and older claims sometimes allege isolated continued use in places like Japan, Sweden or India, but those claims are not corroborated by the formal sources in this set ^{[10] [11]}. Therefore, available sources do not mention any country where lobotomies remain common in 2025.

5. How reporting and sources differ — nuance and caveats

While mainstream medical sources call the procedure obsolete, some secondary or historical accounts note that psychosurgery persisted longer in some places (Sweden, Norway and other European countries carried out many procedures into the 1960s–1970s) and that isolated practices lingered in pockets for years thereafter ^{[11] [12]}. This historical persistence does not equate to contemporary common practice; the available health and encyclopedia coverage frames lobotomy as a largely historical technique rather than an active, common treatment ^{[6] [4] [1]}.

6. What to watch for and why people ask this now

Interest in whether lobotomies continue often stems from the shocking history, variations in how countries regulated the procedure, and occasional mentions of "psychosurgery" that can be confused with lobotomy. Modern neurosurgical treatments for intractable disorders do exist, but they are targeted, evidence‑based, and carried out under strict ethical and regulatory oversight — a very different category from historical lobotomies ^{[1] [3]}. Available sources do not say those modern procedures are the same as the old frontal lobotomy ^{[1] [2]}.

Limitations: this answer uses only the supplied documents; if you want searches of legal or medical registries, government health ministry statements, or investigative reporting beyond these sources to check for any isolated cases since 2024–2025, ask and I will search those specific records (current provided reporting does not document ongoing common use) ^{[1] [3]}.