SELF-INFLICTED BULLET WOUND OF FRONTAL LOBES IN A DEPRESSION WITH RECOVERY : A Psychologic Study

A 49-year-old female suffering from a depression complicated by alcoholism had made several unsuccessful suicidal attempts. In 1937 she became acutely depressed and shot a .25 caliber bullet through both frontal lobes. The bullet is still lodged in the left supraorbital region, the patient having a rhinorrhea and pneumoventricle for several months. Neurological findings were uncertain and transitory, with the exception of a series of severe convulsions which occurred two years after the shooting. The patient's alcoholism has persisted but her depression, which cleared up directly after the shooting has remained absent for over three years. Psychological tests indicate childishness, facetiousness and extroversion with no evidence of any organic change in her intellectual status.