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This book tells the story of one of medicine’s most (in)famous treatments: the neurosurgical operation commonly known as lobotomy. Invented by Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz in 1935, lobotomy or psychosurgery became widely used in a number of countries, including Denmark, where the treatment had a major breakthrough. In fact, evidence suggests that more lobotomies were performed in Denmark than any other country. However, the reason behind this unofficial world record has not yet been fully understood. Lobotomy Nation traces the history of psychosurgery and its ties to other psychiatric treatments such as malaria fever therapy, Cardiazol shock and insulin coma therapy, but it also situates lobotomy within a broader context. The book argues that the rise and fall of lobotomy is not just a story about psychiatry, it is also about society, culture and interventions towards vulnerable groups in the 20th century.
First published in 1985, Ethical Issues in Psychosurgery examines the continuing debate surrounding the treatment of psychiatric disorder by psychosurgery and its ethical implications. Psychosurgery represents a radical treatment and it therefore raises, in a particularly acute and challenging fashion, questions which are implicit In most therapy. The book offers a focussed study in bioethics, a model for bioethical inquiry, as well as introduction to some of the major problems in bioethics. These range from detailed discussions of informed consent, the sanctity of the brain, and the use of experimental therapies, to wider questions of social contract and professionalization. John Kleinig's balanced and informed treatment of the questions will make this book invaluable not only to those concerned with the philosophy of legal and medical ethics, but also to those in the fields of psychiatric practice and research.
This book, first published in 1998, revisits the period in the 1940s and 1950s when many Americans were operated on for mental illness.

Psychosurgery

United States. National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research

Published: 1977

Total Pages: 498


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Of all the therapies that comprise psychiatric practice, the use of brain surgery to modify behaviour is the most contentious. That such behavioural neuro surgery, or psychosurgery, provokes opposition is far from surprising. The paramount status of the brain seems to belie mechanical intervention. The irreversible nature of the intervention seems to aggravate the outrage. Thus, opponents of the practice contend that psychosurgical procedures constitute a grievous assault on the integrity of the personality. Its proponents, on the other hand, confidently testify that it is a valid and efficacious form of treat ment for many seemingly intractable psychiatric disorders. Argument and counterargument have pursued the practice since its initial upsurge in the 1940s, although the decline in its popularity in the 1960s occasioned a tem porary cease-fire. However, the recent resurgence of psychosurgery has ensured that it is once again a matter of controversy. In the United Kingdom the characteristically subdued tenor of the debate frequently obscures the popularity of the practice and the commitment of its opposition. A recent application by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to the Medical Research Council for funds to mount a large controlled trial of psychosurgical procedures was turned down. Several opposition lobbyists might claim some credit for the proposal's lack of success. The Schizophrenia Association of Great Bri tain clearly and publicly expressed their disapproval of the trial. The Patient's Protection Law Committee presented Parliament with a petition condemning the Royal College's submission.
The Lobotomist explores one of the darkest chapters of American medicine: the desperate attempt to treat the hundreds of thousands of psychiatric patients in need of help during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Into this crisis stepped Walter Freeman, M.D., who saw a solution in lobotomy, a brain operation intended to reduce the severity of psychotic symptoms. Drawing on Freeman’s documents and interviews with Freeman's family, Jack El-Hai takes a penetrating look at the life and work of this complex scientific genius. The Lobotomist explores one of the darkest chapters of American medicine: the desperate attempt to treat the hundreds of thousands of psychiatric patients in need of help during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Into this crisis stepped Walter Freeman, M.D., who saw a solution in lobotomy, a brain operation intended to reduce the severity of psychotic symptoms. Although many patients did not benefit from the thousands of lobotomies Freeman performed, others believed their lobotomies changed them for the better. Drawing on a rich collection of documents Freeman left behind and interviews with Freeman's family, Jack El-Hai takes a penetrating look into the life of this complex scientific genius and traces the physician's fascinating life and work.
The rise and widespread acceptance of psychosurgery constitutes one of the most troubling chapters in the history of modern medicine. By the late 1950s, tens of thousands of Americans had been lobotomized as treatment for a host of psychiatric disorders. Though the procedure would later be decried as devastating and grossly unscientific, many patients, families, and physicians reported veritable improvement from the surgery; some patients were even considered cured. The Lobotomy Letters gives an account of why this controversial procedure was sanctioned by psychiatrists and doctors of modern medicine. Drawing from original correspondence penned by lobotomy patients and their families as well as from the professional papers of lobotomy pioneer and neurologist Walter Freeman, the volume reconstructs how physicians, patients, and their families viewed lobotomy and analyzes the reasons for its overwhelming use. Mical Raz, MD/PhD, is a physician and historian of medicine.
An alarmed overview of contemporary methods of mind control which recoils at government agencies' unconstitutional techniques and willingness to finance dubious research and finds evidence of equally grim attitudes ingrained in scientific research practices. Chavkin has gathered together many headline stories of recent years (CIA brainwashing and LSD experiments, the Jensen-Schockley controversy, prison behavior modification attempts, Tuskegee's untreated-syphilis patients) and examined the work of influential theorists like Ervin and Mark and E. O. Wilson, and he perceives distressing patterns of contempt and denial of rights. Chavkin goes to the heart of the matter, indicating his sources and rationing his expressions of outrage; for an even more forceful indictment.
Psychosurgery, or the surgical treatment of mental disorders, has enjoyed a spectacular revival over the past ten years as new brain stimulation techniques have become available. Neuromodulation offers new possibilities for the treatment of psychiatric disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), addiction, eating disorders and autism. This work presents the history of this unique specialty and investigates current techniques and ethical challenges. With a wealth of illustrations and detailed anatomical diagrams, it provides essential information for medical practitioners, as well as anyone else interested in the fascinating advances being made in neuroscience today. « I like the book as it provides a very nice overview of psycho- surgery in general. It is easy to understand for any (para)medical practitioner, but even specialists in the field may learn new things. They may also enjoy looking the well-known and less-known figures which illustrate the book. » Professor Bart Nuttin « Reading this book is like reading an anthology, or rather an encyclopaedia of the field of psychiatric surgery, spanning more than a century. This is a work with an unprecedented degree of erudition and knowledge, and the subject is presented in a didactic, scholar, and scientific manner, and is extensively referenced and illustrated. If only one book is to be read by anybody interested in this field, regardless of specialty, this is The Book to read. » Professor Marwan Hariz