title: Psychosurgery: past, present, and future, including prefrontal lobotomy and Connecticut's contribution.
abstract: Psychosurgery, a subspecialty of functional neurosurgery, has been used in the treatment of psychiatric illness, intractable pain, and, controversially, as ameans to control and modify violent human behavior. Prefrontal lobotomy, a procedure developed in the 20th century, arose as a result of pioneering research, includingwork done atYaleUniversity in New Haven. Prominent clinicians throughout Connecticut contributed to the development of modern psychosurgery. Neuroethics or ethics of neuroscience is essential to the study and practice ofpsychosurgery. New technology has provided improved accuracy with less morbidity. The progressive replacement of ablative procedures with deep-brain stimulation and restorative neurosurgery offers new perspectives in the treatment of some psychiatric conditions.
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Nijensohn
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Goodrich
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research; D003237:Connecticut; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000601:surgery; D010148:Intractable Pain / Q000601:surgery; D011612:Psychosurgery / Q000941:ethics / Q000639:trends*; D014495:Universities