Last Resort: Psychosurgery and the Limits of Medicine

by Jack D. Pressman

Book Overview

During the 1940s and 1950s, tens of thousands of Americans underwent some form of psychosurgery; that is, their brains were operated upon for the putative purpose of treating mental illness. From today's perspective, such medical practices appear foolhardy at best, perhaps even barbaric; most commentators thus have seen in the story of lobotomy an important warning about the kinds of hazards that society will face whenever incompetent or malicious...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521353718
• ISBN13: 9780521353717
• Release Date: February 1998
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"