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RELIEVING PAIN. Doctors are still not sure how the brain perceives pain, but some neurosurgeons have found ways of relieving the chronic and acute discomfort associated with terminal cancer and other diseases. Dr. William Sweet, chief of neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, has found that by destroying small clusters of cells in different parts of the brain, either by freezing or by electric current, he can relieve pain without producing the degrading effects of the old-style prefrontal lobotomy, which often produced antisocial behavior and, eventually, mental deterioration. He has also found a way of dealing with tic douloureux, an excruciatingly painful nervous disorder involving the trigeminal nerve of the face. With his patient sedated but conscious, Sweet places electrodes in the face and destroys certain small nerve fibers that transmit pain without harming those larger fibers involved in perceiving touch.
REDUCING VIOLENCE. Building on his earlier work, Sweet and others have also discovered that they can calm the violent outbursts of rage often associated with psychomotor epilepsy by destroying or partially removing the amygdala, an almond-shaped body in the limbic system of the brain. Sweet's onetime student, Dr. Vernon Mark, has performed amygdalectomies on 13 patients who exhibited violent behavior associated with a rare form of epilepsy. The operations reduced the frequency of their seizures and their aggressive outbursts. But the surgery produced no significant effects on their intelligence or ability to think.
BIOFEEDBACK CONTROL. A handful of yoga and Zen masters have known for centuries how to control such autonomic or involuntary nervous functions as heart and respiratory rates. Rockefeller University Psychologist Neal Miller has found ways to help those with a less spiritual outlook to achieve the same kind of control. Using devices that enable patients to monitor various body functions like blood circulation and heartbeat, Miller and other researchers have trained them to raise and lower their blood pressure and hand temperatures. The phenomenon, he explains, is basically no different from other forms of learning. All learning depends on some sort of feedback to the brain —from eyes, hand or other sources —that tells the student whether he is succeeding or failing in what he is trying to do. Biofeedback-monitoring devices simply enable the patient to tell when he is consciously controlling his involuntary functions. Miller's work has been capitalized upon by charlatans and mystics who insist that biofeedback can bring a kind of instant satori to those willing to spend money for lessons and equipment. But many legitimate researchers also believe that biofeedback may prove valuable in controlling moods and dealing with certain illnesses.