The Frontal Lobes and Consciousness of the Self

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The authors describe briefly the operation of prefrontal lobotomy which has been found to have beneficial effects in relieving mental patients of certain pathological symptoms. In performing the operation burr holes are made over the coronal suture on either side of the skull in. the temporal region and there is subcortical amputation of the frontal lobes in the plane of the coronal suture. For the most part the operation severs connecting fibers between the frontal lobe and other areas of the cortex. Best clinical results have been obtained in cases of involutional depression and in obsessive states. The authors stress that prefrontal lobotomy is no panacea for mental illness and should be resorted to only in those cases where prognosis is poor and other less drastic measures have proved ineffective. Its chief effect is a lessening of the affective component associated with the consciousness of the self. Case reports are cited of 5 patients who underwent the operation and statistics are given for a total of 66 operated cases.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: