Dr. Robyn Bluhm, Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Lyman Briggs College, and Dr. Laura Cabrera, Assistant Professor in the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences and the Department of Translational Neuroscience, are co-authors of an article in the Spring 2020 issue of IJFAB: International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics.

Their article, “Deep Brain Stimulation and Relational Agency: Negotiating Relationships,” appears in a special section on feminist neurotechnologies. From the article’s introduction:

In this commentary, we consider three aspects of [Timothy] Brown’s discussion of DBS and relational agency: (1) the importance of thinking critically about what it means to have a relationship with a DBS device; (2) how the development of “closed loop” implants might change the kinds of relationships that are possible; and (3) the need to consider how an individual’s relationship with their device is shaped by their relationship with others in their lives. We see ourselves as building on, or offering suggestions for further developing, Brown’s important paper.

Drs. Bluhm and Cabrera are co-investigators on the project “Is the Treatment Perceived to be Worse than the Disease?: Ethical Concerns and Attitudes towards Psychiatric Electroceutical Interventions,” funded by the NIH BRAIN Initiative. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is one of four types of psychiatric electroceutical interventions (PEIs) included in the scope of the project.

The full text is available online via University of Toronto Press (MSU Library or other institutional access may be required to view this article).