“describe the main components of psychosurgery therapy” (8 – 12 marks)
Intro SurProc, schiz, lbf, nts, medical model
Psychosurgery therapy is a biological surgical procedure in which regions of the brain are removed to
treat certain mental disorders like bipolar, depression, OCD and schizophrenia. It is based off the
biological approach as it involves localisation of brain functions, neurotransmitters and the medical
model of mental illness.
Prefrontal Leucotomy Moniz, frontlobe, OCD , icepick, drill, retracloop
Prefrontal Leucotomy was the earliest approach and was founded by a neuroscientist, Moniz, in 1930.
It was a surgical procedure which destroyed selective nerve fibres in the Frontal lobe. This is because
the frontal lobe associates with mood regulation and aggression, therefore this specific therapy was
performed on patients who had severe symptoms of mental disorders that needed to be eradicated.
The rule of this surgery was that severity of illness was more important than the type. Examples of
this are OCD, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.
Moniz first approached this therapy by using an ice-picking method:
1. Patient had two entry point drilled into each side of their head
2. An ice-pick contraption was inserted and used to destroy nerve fibres. He hypothesised that
this would relieve patients of their distressing thoughts and behaviours.
3. Moniz later changed his method by designing a “leucotome” (an instrument which had a
retractable loop wire that could cut into nerve pathways) to relieve the patients thought and
behaviours.
This surgery was then redeveloped in the later decade by Walter Freeman.
Therefore….
Transorbital Lobotomy WalFreeman, agg, Sez, eye, SerConn, HowDull
This type of psychosurgery was developed from Moniz by an American physician, Walter Freeman,
between the 1940s and 1950s. Freeman was a doctor that was bound by the hypocritic oath. The
second historical procedure began increasingly popular from 1945 (150 procedure) to 1949 (over
5000). Freeman believed that behaviour is a physical cause, therefore, he altered the brain structure.
He came up with this procedure to reduce aggressive symptoms/behaviours in patients who suffered
with schizophrenia, mania, bipolar and aggression. To do this, Freeman:
1. Sedated patients with electrical shocks to put the patient in a seizure
