Abstract
Recent successes of deep brain stimulation in intractable Parkinson's disease are reviving interest in a neurosurgical approach for the treatment of severe mental disorders. In April 2002, the French National Committee on Medical Ethics (NCME) gave very positive encouragement to such an approach, by arguing in favour of the progress of the techniques that have been developed, their efficacy and general safety. Is this judgement scientifically justified? Scrutinizing the argumentation exposed by the NCME reveals a quite different situation : the efficacy of “functional” neurosurgery of mental illnesses has yet to be proven ; the undesirable side-effects remain as frequent as disabling ; there has been no real major conceptual change. Psychosurgical reductionism remains attractive. Psychiatrists should worry that a national agency for medical ethics could settle such a difficult question as psychosurgery without acknowledging their experience in the matter nor showing the most elementary impartiality this requires. A question with quite serious consequences, as the history of their specialty unfortunately demonstrates.
Published Version
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