title: Psychosurgery (1974-2014). Withdrawals and revivals. New movements and old inspirations.
abstract: At the Paris Colloquium held forty years ago, and which this paper celebrates, the issue of psychosurgery had not been tackled yet. At that time psychosurgery was tainted by the controversial history of lobotomy and leucotomy. Supporters of psychosurgery at the time of the Colloquium were preparing their fourth International Conference, which was held in Madrid the following year. This represented a key characteristic of the collective, institutional and symbolic action of psychosurgery practitioners. At the end of the seventies, their strategy changed as noted below. Furthermore, we focus on the special importance of the results presented and commented on by psychosurgery supporters, including its conception and classification throughout the rhetoric historically involved (its supposed ventriloquism, its persuasive strength). Based on this view, we suggest a critical reflection encompassing old and new psychosurgery, while questioning the value of new rhetorical devices for the assessment and presentation of psychosurgery results after the surge of Deep Brain Stimulation.
authors.affiliation: Group of History and Sociology of Science and Technology, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of the 20th Century, University of Coimbra (CEIS20-UC), Rua Filipe Simões, 33, 3000-186 Coimbra, Portugal. Electronic address: manuel.correia@uc.pt.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Correia
mesh_terms: D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000601:surgery*; D011612:Psychosurgery / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends*
keywords: Deep Brain Stimulation; Leucotomie; Leucotomy; Lobotomie; Lobotomy; Psychiatrie; Psychiatry; Psychochirurgie; Psychosurgery; Stimulation cérébrale profonde