PSYCHOSURGERY: PAST AND PRESENT

Paul Malloy, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence,  RI  USA

Nicole C. McLaughlin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor (Research), Butler Hospital and
Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI  USA

This course will review the long history of brain surgery for treatment of mental illness. Theory and practice of psychosurgery will be examined, from ancient techniques like trephination, through the period of lobotomy and leuctomy, to modern techniques such as cingulotomy and anterior capsulotomy. Literature will be critically reviewed regarding the efficacy and side-effects of modern techniques such as gamma knife surgery and deep brain stimulation for OCD and affective disorders.  Learning goals: Participants will become familiar with (1) how science and public policy have interacted in this controversial area to advance human subject protection; and (2) neuropsychological effects of frontal leucotomy, gamma knife and DBS
surgeries.