Congratulations to Dr. Michael Okun on the publication of “DBS-Induced Changes in Personality, Agency, Narrative and Identity,” which appears in Volume 14, issue 3 of AJOB Neuroscience.
Substantial discussion in the neuroethical literature has addressed the possibility that deep brain stimulation (DBS) and adaptive DBS (aDBS) could result in changes in personality, agency, and identity. The history of psychosurgery warrants both concern and caution when considering invasive brain surgery of any kind, even if state-of-the-art, and minimally morbid. As a therapeutic intervention, however, DBS has undergone many years of research, regulatory approval, and iterative refinements in technique(s), technology, and process that have established it as a potentially valuable option for multiple neurological and neuropsychiatric pathologies.