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:

Present day

Psychosurgery today is almost entirely limited to endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS surgery). While this is normally used for somatic conditions, many patients with anxiety disorder report significant reduction in fear and alertness after this intervention (Teleranta, Pohjavaara, et al. 2003,2004).

Related Topics:
Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy - Anxiety disorder

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Today, lobotomy is very infrequently practised. It may be a treatment of last resort for OCD sufferers, and may also be used for people suffering chronic pain. In the latter case, the surgery does not act on the perception of pain, but leads to a lack of concern about the pain. The procedure usually involves a 2–3cm lesion in the cingulum near the corpus callosum. The efficacy is not high, with improvement in 5 of 18 patients (Baer et al., 1995). Lobotomy is no longer used as a treatment for schizophrenia.

Related Topics:
OCD - Cingulum - Corpus callosum - Schizophrenia

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