From psychosurgery to neuromodulation and palliation: history's lessons for the ethical conduct and regulation of neuropsychiatric research. Review uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • As we contemplate the emerging era of neuromodulation and imagine the utility of deep brain stimulation for disease entities in neurology and psychiatry, our enthusiasm is immediately tempered by history. Just a generation ago, other confident investigators were heralding invasive somatic therapies like prefrontal lobotomy to treat psychiatric illness. That era of psychosurgery ended with widespread condemnation, congressional calls for a ban, and avow that history should never repeat itself. Now, just 30 years later, neurologists, neurosurgeons, and psychiatrists are implanting deep brain stimulators for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and contemplating their use for severe psychiatric illnesses, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and the modulation of consciousness in traumatic brain injury.

publication date

  • April 1, 2003

Research

keywords

  • Biomedical Research
  • Brain
  • Mental Disorders
  • Palliative Care
  • Psychosurgery

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0037399332

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/s1042-3680(02)00118-3

PubMed ID

  • 12856496

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 14

issue

  • 2