Psychosurgery

Under psychosurgery is meant surgery on the brain to treat severe mental disorders (eg schizophrenia, severe obsessive-compulsive disorder). But even in severe cases of other serious diseases, such as Parkinson 's disease, Tourette's syndrome, epilepsy they are used.

Irreversible process

To no longer irreversible surgeries include stereotactic operations and cingulotomy, anterior capsulotomy, and limbic leucotomy subkaudale tractotomy.

One of the oldest and best-known method is the lobotomy, a radical double-sided cut in the frontal mark which separates the connections between the frontal lobe and thalamus. Was first carried out the intervention of the Portuguese doctor António Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz in 1935; In 1949 he was awarded the Nobel Prize. The intervention should be based on schizophrenic, severely depressed and aggressive patients have calming effect, but this is controversial today. At the same serious side effects were often associated with the procedure, such as loss of sadness or joy feelings and a strong emotional flattening.

That the lobotomy still was used, is associated with that of his contemporary state of knowledge about mental disorders, the earlier prevailing image of the mentally ill in society and the lack of alternative treatment methods, such as neuroleptics. So thousands of people in the U.S. were subjected to a lobotomy, even if they were only behavioral problems in the 50s and 60s. In addition, operations were at the brain sometimes misused to suppress deviant social behavior by interfering with the brain. A well-known case, for example, that Rosemary Kennedy. The far-reaching side effects as well as the above-mentioned cases of abuse of this treatment method meant that since the development of modern psychiatric drugs hardly played a role at the latest and suffering " psychosurgery " method until today under an ambivalent reputation.

The irreversible process include psychosurgery operations on amygdala where the brain tissue is destroyed by an introduced probe by cold, heat or chemical substances. After amygdala operations especially serious side effects were complained: The operated patients are passive, motorized limited forfeit control of their reactions, spontaneity and creativity would be restricted.

Reversible process

A reversible, so again irreversible and still quite young surgical method is deep brain stimulation, which is currently included especially in patients with severe organic or neuropsychiatric disorders such as Parkinson 's disease, Tourette's, obsessive compulsive disorder, epilepsy occasionally will be used. This process is also called " brain pacemaker " because it is of deep brain stimulation is the insertion of two electrodes in the brain, via the then implanted into the patient's chest pulse generators ( pacemakers) current is passed into the affected brain areas.

Meanwhile possible psychological side effects have also been reported for this method, the spectrum is mainly include lighter cognitive deterioration, depression and (hypo ) mania. But even personality changes have been documented.