The biological approach therapy

Question 1

Psychosurgery

Answer 1

-surgical procedure for treating psychological disorders and an extreme form of biological therapy

Question 2

prefrontal leucotomy

Answer 2

• holes were drilled on each side of the skull
• device called a leucotome was inserted into the frontal lobe
• lecuotome is extended and rotated to lesion the tissue and sever the nerve fibre

Question 3

Effectiveness of pre frontal leuctomy

Answer 3

• early lobotomies had a fatality rate of 6 percent and a range of severe side effects such as brain seizures, a lack of emotional responses
• said to inappropriate and ineffective. Had a high fatality rate

Question 4

Ethical issues of psychosurgery

Answer 4

• techniques were used in mental asylums on those who were not able to give their valid consent to the operation
• argues that patients were not in the right mindset to give fully formed consent as they may have had depression etc .
• can cause irreversible damage and can cause memory loss and significant changes to a persons patient cognitive capabilities. Many patients would return void of emotion

Question 5

Why would a psyschologist consider pyschotherapy?

Answer 5

• used for those who have not responded to any other treatment for mental illness
• aim of this is to eradicate undesirable behaviour
• this approach assumes that there is a physical cause for mental illness which is the structure and functioning of the brain
• believe they have a physical cause and should be treated in a physical way

Question 6

How biological assumptions apply to psychosurgery

Answer 6

• localisation of the brain function - idea that certain areas of the brain have different functions that they carry out
• treating psychological disorders in a physical way involves destroying or removing certain areas of the brain that are thought to contribute

Question 7

Transoribital lobotomy

Answer 7

• use a special knife called an ice pick and was inserted into the brain through the eye socket
• ice pick was wiggled around to destroy connections between frontal area which reduced aggressive behaviour

Question 8

Bilateral cingulotomy

Answer 8

-Designed to surgically interrupt circuits
- gamma knife was used to focus beams of radiation at the target site to burn away tissue

Question 9

Deep brain stimulation

Answer 9

• a nuerosurgical procedure that uses implanted electrodes and electrical stimulation to treat movement disorders
• can treat parkinsons disease and 75 percent of participants felt that the procedure helped them
• involves no tissue destruction