Aimed at the general public, highly readable, and more than a little provocative.
A rousing, straight-from-the shoulder call for a new approach to treating depression.
Mental disorders, writes Bullmore (Psychiatry/Univ. of Cambridge; co-author: The Diagnosis of Psychosis, 2011), the head of the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, can have their origin in the immune system. In a book previously published to acclaim in England, he makes the case for a link between inflammation and depression, delineating his argument with a “pioneering new field of research…called immuno-psychiatry or neuro-immunology.” This new field “exists at the boundaries between immunology, neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry.” Forcefully rejecting the Cartesian divide between body and mind—the immune system is now known to communicate across the blood-brain barrier, which was once thought to prevent this communication—the author outlines how the immune system triggers an inflammatory response to stress and how inflammation can cause changes in how the brain works, often leading to changes in mood and behavior. To illustrate, Bullmore refers repeatedly to a former patient with rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune and inflammatory condition, and depression, and he adds a personal touch with references to his own temporarily depressed mental state after undergoing a stressful root canal procedure. Besides explaining the biological mechanisms linking stress, inflammation, and depression, the author provides a lesson in medical history that likens present-day thinking about serotonin to the Hippocratic notion of black bile and concludes with the statement, “in short, depression after Descartes is in a sorry state.” Bullmore’s involvement with a research program at the pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline, an arrangement he is quick to acknowledge, may raise questions about his interest in the development of new anti-inflammatory drugs to treat depression, but his insights into depression and its treatments are impressive and valuable. The black-and-white illustrations vary widely in quality, from woodcuts and engravings to some rather amateurish original drawings.
Aimed at the general public, highly readable, and more than a little provocative.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31814-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Picador
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
An intriguing but strongly one-sided account.
Although scientists and philosophers don’t pretend to understand the neurological mechanism of human consciousness, they are eager to theorize about it. Donald (Psychology/Queen’s Univ., Toronto) reviews the evidence and explains how he believes the brain converts sensory input into awareness.
He begins by denouncing his opponents. According to the author, a school of evolutionary thinkers called the neo-Darwinians views human nature as fixed in genetic concrete. It follows from this that thinking, behavior, emotions, and language are hard-wired deep in our unconscious. Consciousness facilitates the working out of these mental processes, but it otherwise has little importance. The author disagrees vehemently with these “hardliners.” He proposes instead that the human mind occupies a unique place in nature, not because of its structure but through its ability to absorb culture (i.e., the interaction of many minds): human consciousness, according to this view, is actually a hybrid product of biology and culture. As a result, the key to understanding intellect is not the design of a single brain but the synergy of many brains. Marshalling studies from neuroscience as well as behavioral research on humans and animals, the author portrays consciousness as a revolutionary development central to human evolution, and he goes on to explain how the intellect might adapt to a future of increasingly symbolic technology. Although dense with closely reasoned argument, analysis, and theory, this study rewards careful reading—but it is also a heated polemic, full of sarcasm and dripping with contempt for the neo-Darwinians (whose arguments are made to seem extreme as well as weak).
An intriguing but strongly one-sided account.Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-393-04950-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
You'd think Monty Python creator Cleese tackling health, happiness, and life after death would make for hilarious reading. Well, think again. Cleese and family therapist Skynner have followed their successful Families and How to Survive Them (not reviewed) with a dialogue on healthy mental living. The gist of their theory boils down to the need for the parent and child in each of us to be well integrated and flexible. In a rote repartee that consists of leading questions and summations, Cleese and Skynner apply their psychological analysis to individuals, families, corporations, nations, and societies. But even with ITT and Karl Marx on the proverbial couch, Cleese's occasional jokes fall flat. Bud Handelsman's cartoons, which depend too heavily on the text, provide the only comic edge—for while the give and take of discussion might be invaluable in therapy, it is tiresome to read. The book's rambling format is all the more distressing because some of Cleese and Skynner's points are solid. They touch on everything from child rearing to the recipe for happy marriage, as well as grief, work fulfillment, near-death experiences, the Holocaust, and the current mayhem in Somalia. They cite an equally wide a range of sources, from a 30-year study of Harvard students to Plato, Coleridge, and Dale Carnegie. Many of their conclusions—e.g., that sexual experience before marriage can demystify sex and prevent conjugal infidelity, or that strong, hands-off leadership makes for both good business and happy families—are pop-psych boilerplate. But Skynner's clinical experience gives such basic comments a bit more heft than they usually receive in popular magazines and on talk shows. If the ``Parent'' in the authors had been firmer with the ``Child'' and insisted on heavy editing and strong shaping, this work might have moved beyond self-help mediocrity.
Pub Date: Jan. 9, 1995
ISBN: 0-393-03742-8
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
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