noun
- Plural of psychosurgery; surgical procedures performed on the brain to treat severe mental illness or behavioral disorders.
Usage: medical; formal; historically controversial
Examples
- Early psychosurgeries were performed in the mid-20th century to treat severe depression and schizophrenia.
- The ethics of psychosurgeries remain debated in modern medicine.
- Psychosurgeries have largely been replaced by pharmaceutical and behavioral treatments.
- Historical records document thousands of psychosurgeries performed during the 1940s and 1950s.
- Modern neuroscience has made many traditional psychosurgeries obsolete.