Science

Have you ever walked down the long green corridors of a state mental hospital? In bed after bed, in ward afterward, there are huge numbers of people with severe behavioral disorders. They may sit staring out of windows or compulsively repeat some meaningless task. They may be doing any of a number of things—all wrapped in boredom and misery.

This setting has caused dozens of neurosurgeons all over the world to try to alleviate some of these problems with neurosurgical procedures. It is not an isolated enterprise. In England and Australia several procedures are used— more widely than in this country, perhaps mainly because of the almost total absence of malpractice suits there. Still, in America, psychosurgery is practiced from coast to coast and frequently in our major medical centers.

MG

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Michael Gazzaniga

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Have you ever walked down the long green corridors of a state mental hospital? In bed after bed, in ward afterward, there are huge numbers of people with severe behavioral disorders. They may sit staring out of windows or compulsively repeat some meaningless task. They may be doing any of a number of things—all wrapped in boredom and misery.

This setting has caused dozens of neurosurgeons all over the world to try to alleviate some of these problems with neurosurgical procedures. It is not an isolated enterprise. In England and Australia several procedures are used— more widely than in this country, perhaps mainly because of the almost total absence of malpractice suits there. Still, in America, psychosurgery is practiced from coast to coast and frequently in our major medical centers.