PhD Research

I am currently a PhD Researcher in History at Ulster University. I received a three year Department for the Economy (DfE) studentship for my project, beginning September 2020. My project investigates the use of psychosurgery in the United Kingdom between 1940 and 1986.

Project Title: Psychosurgery in the United Kingdom, 1940-1986

Supervisors: Dr Ian Miller (Lead Supervisor) and Dr Kyle Hughes

Areas of Focus: Psychosurgery; Lobotomy; Leucotomy; Neurosurgery; Shock Therapies; Psychiatry; Psychology; Neuroscience; Neurology; Medical Experimentation; Medical Education; Scientific Networks; Mental Health; Mental Illness; Asylums; Mental Hospitals; Special Hospitals; Medical Research.

Overview of Research: This study will investigate the spread, impacts and experiences of psychosurgery in the UK between 1940 and the mid-1980s. It aims to illuminate the introduction of legislation that provided a framework for psychiatric treatments including psychosurgery and afforded patients more rights over psychiatric treatment decisions. It will also examine the perspectives of both doctors and patients.

A greater understanding of psychosurgery in this period would broaden understandings of the introduction of a controversial technique in British asylums, highlight Britain as an ‘innovator’ of psychosurgery, and illuminate the procedure’s relationship to mental health care, patient experiences and the anti-psychiatry movement. The project also holds the potential to inform current debates around the use of neurosurgery for mental disorder.

For further information, please see the following pages:

Academic Profile and C.V. available upon request.

For all queries, please contact Rebecca at hello@historywithrebecca.com.