Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) lesions: helpful in medical science?

Flashback to days of lobotomy, which was a form of neurosurgery that scraped off some of the prefrontal cortex in order to reduce symptoms associated with various mental disorders.  Although lobotomy is no longer practiced today, due to its unpopular side effects, new findings associated with the vmPFC may provide insight for similar procedures.
Michael Koenigs et al. looked at FMRIs of patients with brain lesions in the vmPFC, and looked for effects on negative affect via its connection with the amygdala.  These findings suggest that there is a relationship between the vmPFC and the amygdala.  Furthermore, the FMRI shows that when aversive pictures are shown, subjects with brain lesions have more active amygdalae than "normal" subjects.  The relationship supports the idea that vmPFC activity inversely relates to amygdala; in this case when there is less vmPFC activity (as in the subjects with lesions), the amygdala's activity is "disinhibited," meaning there is less inhibition.  With less inhibition it is found that there are lower levels of negative affect (not lower levels of depressed feeling though).  In another research paper by Hänsel and Känel, it was found that the vmPFC might link to more than just negative affect, but affective disorders.  They found that there is a link between the vmPFC and the autonomic nervous system, which also is associated with depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and other affective disorders.
In both studies it was determined that the vmPFC has an inverse relationship with the amygdala except for people who are suffering from depression.  This is particularly interesting in my opinion, because there must be something going on in a depression that creates this dysfunction.  This also creates difficulty when creating anti-depressants or coming up with treatments for depression.
Controversially, it was seen that people with lesions might have less anxiety, and also less post traumatic depressed feelings.  War heroes were observed in a study by Koenigs et al., and it was found that those with damage to the vmPFC were less likely to develop PTSD.
The key here is: vmPFC damage is increasing amygdala activity when presented with some stimulus, which then blunts emotional responses.  This creates conflict; when trying to solve one problem like PTSD, but the solution may lead to another problem like major depressive disorder.  Koenigs et al. say that vmPFC damage may lead to a personality change that can be comparable to psychopathic behavior--not good.  Hänsel and Känel say that vmPFC damage may affect ones rational thinking.  So maybe brain lesions aren't a new and improved form of lobotomy.  However, Koenigs et al. conclude that although lesions are not a cure, the relationship discovered between the vmPFC, the amygdala, and then its effects on emotion, may lead to some very interesting treatments down the line.  Hänsel and Känel feel that by looking at the effects of the vmPFC on the autonomic nervous system, we might be able to gain additional insight.
Lesions may blunt personality, but they have sparked neuroscientific research on emotional disorders.

Works Cited

Hänsel, Alexander, and Roland von Känel. “The Ventro-Medial Prefrontal Cortex: A Major Link between the Autonomic Nervous System, Regulation of Emotion, and Stress Reactivity?” Biopsychosocial Medicine 2 (2008): 21. PMC. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

Motzkin, Julian C., Carissa L. Philippi, Richard C. Wolf, Mustafa K. Baskaya, and Michael Koenigs. "Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Is Critical for the Regulation of Amygdala Activity in Humans." Biological Psychiatry 77.3 (2015): 276-84. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.