Marc Lévêque

2014

New Techniques for Brain Disorders

Neurosurgical interventions to ameliorate the suffering of desperately ill patients, suffering from a psychiatric disorder, and who cannot be helped otherwise, have caught the attention of neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, and psychologists for several decades. The title of this book, ‘‘psychosurgery,’’ summarizes these types of interventions in one word. Everybody understands the word, and given the history, it has positive and negative connotations. In the book it is clearly explained what is really meant by psychosurgery. In fact, a surgical intervention on the brain is performed, and the wanted effect is an improvement of pathological behavior. Unfortunately, this beneficial effect is not always obtained and sometimes one encounters adverse events.