Trepanation (trephination), the world’s second oldest surgical procedure after circumcision, involves drilling a hole into the skull of an individual suffering mental illness. The hole drilled into the skull (cut into the dura matter) is left to heal naturally, previous cases reportedly produced positive effect on the trepanned individual’s mood.
Trepanning which has been successfully used to treat chronic headaches, epilepsy, and migraines is significance to lobotomy in terms of pain.