Surgical procedure in which nerve pathways in a lobe or lobes of the brain are severed from those in other areas.
Introduced in 1935 by shock therapy , it did reduce agitation but often caused increased apathy and passivity, inability to concentrate, and decreased emotional response. It was widely performed until с 1956, when drugs that were more effective in calming patients became available. Lobotomies are no longer performed; however, psychosurgery, the surgical removal of specific regions of the brain, is occasionally used to treat patients whose symptoms have resisted all other treatments.