European Association of Neurosurgical Societies. Third European Lecture. Naples, 23 April, 1982. Some aspects of personality of the neurosurgeon.

Possibility of personality shaping: Hippokrates said: "Balance is essential to health, and imbalance creates, or is, disease." Psychological balance is essential for developing our personality and professional ability. However, growth is also dependent on a sound community spirit in the profession. Hindu psychology lists joy, success, duty and understanding as personality-shaping forces which significantly-and positively-affect our actions from childhood until old age. Of these, success and duty are the most relevant during a neurosurgeon's creative period. The majority of our operations are not routine surgery: they aim to preserve and protect vital functions. But, for the same reason, vital functions may be put in jeopardy by an operation. The question is what sort of character it takes to live up to the challenge. Self-knowledge is for this a most important trait. We must know the present limitations of operating technology and be aware of the weak points of our own personality. Self-knowledge is the clue for self-improvement. In possession of self-knowledge there are relatively simple methods to enhance concentration, to develop our will, set our emotional balance, and to temper our emotional responses by self-control. One must strive for a rich, a full personality to achieve professional excellence. Work that is of a really high standard takes more than professional skill and knowledge. It is not sufficient to have great knowledge in your own field and to totter as if blindfolded as soon as you have left its narrow confines. Appreciation of literature, art, and music, interest in other sciences than our professional knowledge enrich the personality. The EANS Administrative Council have asked me to speak about general problems of concern to our profession rather than any single concrete professional question. My choice fell on personality because I regard it as an immensely exciting problem and one to which regrettably little attention has been given and is therefore-the reports of cosmonauts notwithstanding-still very much like the Moon: one half is obscured. (The simile was borrowed from Mark Twain).