Abstract
Psychosurgery encompasses neurosurgical procedures that are performed to alter a person’s thoughts, emotions, personality, or behavior. Although its history dates back to antiquity, psychosurgery was first introduced into modern medicine as a treatment for patients suffering from psychiatric illness in the early twentieth century. Psychosurgery reached its zenith with the widespread performance of the now notorious leucotomy and lobotomy procedures of the 1930s and 1940s. However as a result of adverse patient outcomes and questionable clinical practice, the use of psychosurgery to treat mental disorder became increasingly opposed. This opposition, in conjunction with the introduction of psychotrophic drugs for the treatment of mental illness in the mid-twentieth century, rendered psychosurgery virtually obsolete. However, over the last few decades, advances in neuroscience, imaging technology, and psychiatry have contributed to the development of a new era in psychosurgery (Robison et al 2012). These advances have also heralded a new technique that involves a nondestructive neurosurgical procedure – deep brain stimulation. This entry considers the ethical issues associated with psychosurgery, illustrating why psychosurgery was so problematic in the early twentieth century. It also discusses ethical issues that remain relevant to the contemporary practice of psychosurgery. It concludes by briefly outlining some of the approaches to regulating psychosurgery globally.