Lobotomy and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) represent the two bookends of psychosurgery's fall and rise. Since the Nobel Prize was won in 1949 for the findings on which the lobotomy was based, it has been mostly downhill for the procedure.
More generally, surgical intervention for mental illness - psychosurgeries - have been shunned for some time. But with the advent of DBS, psychosurgery is making a come-back. DBS involves direct electrical stimulation using electrodes implanted in the brain. The procedure has been shown to be very effective in the treatment of severe depression.
In this article in The Guardian, David Beresford describes his experiences of DBS as a treatment for his advanced Parkinson's - for which it is also effective. A welcome side-effect he describes is a substantial lift in mood to the extent that he has experienced bouts of uncontrolled laughter.
The Guardian
Radio 4 programme about psychosurgery
How to Be Creative
If we can all be creative, why is it so hard to come up with truly original ideas?
It's because creativity is mysterious. Just ask any scientist, artist, writer or other highly creative person to explain how they come up with brilliant ideas and, if they're honest, they don't really know.
But over the decades psychologists have given ordinary participants countless tests, forms and tasks and conducted hundreds of hours of interviews. From these emerge the psychological conditions of creativity.
Not what you should do, but how you should be...
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