The term modern psychosurgery refers to the treatment of severe intractable mental health disorders with neurosurgical intervention, based on the systematic application of brain-behavior research findings to practical patient management, with appropriate ethical and regulatory oversight. Modern psychosurgery began in controversy, which has continued to this day. Knowledge of both the history and the current status of psychosurgery is important to the field of abnormal and clinical psychology, given the controversy it has engendered. There have been long-standing efforts by neurosurgical, neurological, psychiatric, and neuropsychological specialists to develop evidence-based criteria and guidelines for psychosurgery. This entry discusses the history of modern psychosurgery and briefly addresses the international consensus on the guidelines for stereotactic neurosurgery for mental health disorders, published in 2014 by neurosurgeon Bart Nuttin ...