ABSTRACT
The introduction of electroencephalography into the clinical area of epilepsies signified much more than mere improvement of their diagnoses. The clinical picture of epilepsy and its various forms was reconceptualized around cerebral currents and curve findings. By the registration of brainwaves typical of epileptic seizures, the electroencephalogram (EEG) had gained within the shortest span of time the status of an irreplaceable diagnostic instrument, without any consensus having been reached on the mechanisms involved in cerebral currents. When behavior problems among children or personality traits among adults were correlated with supposedly objective findings, these analyses not only legitimized existing social stigmatizations but also transformed them into biological forms of psychiatric deviance. False assumptions were manifest that social control was possible by means of neurobiological surveying technology, particularly, for example, when organic therapy with psychopharmaceuticals was administered on the grounds of brain pathology as construed by EEGs.
