Brain research and violent behavior. A summary and evaluation of the status of biomedical research on brain and aggressive violent behavior. Behavioral studies.

Abstract

The development and use of biomedical methods for the treatment of behavioral disorders during the past decade has generated discussion in the scientific community about issues of efficacy and safety and about appropriate criteria for their use on humans. Psychosurgery (ie: the neurosurgical treatment of behavioral disorders) more recently has generated public concern about such matters as informed consent of human subjects in either experimental or clinical care situations, the criteria for differentiating experimental from clinical procedures, and the use of neurosurgical methods of treatment on institutionalized persons. The issues have become particularly sensitive with the use of psychosurgical methods for the treatment of uncontrollable violence and rage behavior. In order to provide a background for development of a public policy position on these matters, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) asked the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS) to prepare a report on the biomedical