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Treating Aggression

Stimulating the Nucleus Accumbens

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Handbook of Anger, Aggression, and Violence
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Abstract

Psychosurgery, despite its controversial beginnings, has nowadays reached a high level of both precision and safety. This has occurred due to advances in scientific methodology and technological improvements and the implementation of modern imaging modalities, stereotactic surgery, and deep brain stimulation devices. Psychosurgical treatment of aggressive disorders has been attempted by lesioning or stimulating certain deep brain structures – including the amygdala and hypothalamus regions. In recent years stimulation of the nucleus accumbens, a basal nucleus involved in the regulation of impulses and the reward system, has been found to have promising results in the psychosurgical treatment of aggression.

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Abbreviations

ALIC:

Anterior limb of the internal capsule

CNS:

Central nervous system

CT:

Computed tomography

DBS:

Deep brain stimulation

DTI:

Diffusion tensor imaging

fMRI:

Functional MRI

GABA:

Gamma-aminobutyric acid

GPi:

Globus pallidus internus

MOAS:

Modified Overt Aggression Scale

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

MSNs:

Medium spiny neurons

NAc:

Nucleus accumbens

OCD:

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

PET:

Positron emissive tomography

PMH:

Posterior medial hypothalamus

SPECT:

Single-photon emission computed tomography

STN:

Subthalamic nucleus

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Hoppe, S., Harat, M. (2023). Treating Aggression. In: Martin, C.R., Preedy, V.R., Patel, V.B. (eds) Handbook of Anger, Aggression, and Violence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31547-3_104

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