6. Trepanation

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Now there’s a word you’ve probably never heard before, unless you are a medical professional or just someone with a really rich vocabulary. It’s just a fancy way of saying “knock a hole in your head.” Literally. Strangely enough, there is evidence to suggest that this practice has been in use for thousands of years, although back in the day, it must have been an extremely painful and unpleasant experience for the patient. Unfortunately, the reasons the ancients used the technique weren’t well justified, and included things like mental illness and headaches. It’s a practice that is still in use, although it is done much more efficiently these days, and with the aid of anesthesia when a head injury causes too much pressure to build up inside the skull, and must be relieved before the condition becomes fatal.