Psychosurgery

Psychosurgery is a term for surgeries of the brain or autonomic nervous system involving the severance of neural pathways to effect a change in behaviour, usually to treat or alleviate severe mental illness. The procedures typically considered psychosurgery are now almost universally shunned as inappropriate, due in part to the emergence of less-invasive methods of treatment such as psychiatric medication. Although the term psychosurgery might imply a broad class of treatments, in reality, it is confined to variations on two themes:

Related Topics:
Surgeries - Brain - Autonomic nervous system - Illness - Psychiatric medication

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• leucotomy/prefrontal lobotomy/cingulotomy: the intentional severing of the prefrontal cortex from the thalamic region of the brain
• sympathectomy: the intentional severing of the sympathetic nerve trunk

Psychosurgery should not be confused with neurosurgery, though they may seem similar; neurosurgery is surgery intended to treat or alleviate neurological disorders, which may or may not manifest mental illnesses as symptoms. Psychosurgery should also not be confused with the practice of psychic surgery—surgery purportedly performed by paranormal means.

Related Topics:
Neurosurgery - Psychic surgery - Paranormal

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Psychosurgery: History ►