Abstract: In order to shed light on the first application of human functional stereotactic neurosurgery, whether it was in the realm of movement disorders, as has been claimed repeatedly, or in the realm of psychiatry, a review of the original scholarly literature was conducted. Tracking and scrutinising original publications by Spiegel and Wycis, the pioneers of human stereotactic neurosurgery, it was found that its origin and the very incentive for its development and first clinical use were to avoid the side effects of frontal leucotomy. The first app...
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