Severe depression and other mental conditions are known to be due to a physical cause - too little of, too much of or an imbalance in brain chemicals.

Some people with severe diabetes have had surgery where islets are put into their liver, and they are cured.

Heart disease often requires surgical intervention, mild or severe.

If surgery is a last resort for any condition, I am all for it.

We're not talking the blues here, or treatable depression - we are talking about a condition severe enough that crippled Guyton her whole life. In Canada, Parkinson's patients under the age of 65 can have a surgical implant to greatly alleviate their symptoms. That's a brain chemical lack - dopamine - that produces obvious physical symptoms. I guess that makes it a "real" disease, unlike the brain chemicals that produce "only" emotional symptoms.

I'll be glad when surgical treatment for mental conditions is accorded the same respect as surgery for other conditions. As Karen said, there are risks to any surgery. I hope mental health treatments are allowed out of the dark ages soon.