Brain, Vol. 122, No. 4, 786-788,
April 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press
Book Reviews |
DISORDERS OF BRAIN AND MIND
Edited by Maria Ron and Anthony S. David. 1998. Pp. 373. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Price £55.00. ISBN 0-521-47306-3..
Gabalfa Clinic, Cardiff, UK
The concept that common psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia may have an organic basis has been far from fully accepted during the twentieth century. The work of pioneers such as Kraepelin at the turn of the century was largely forgotten or ignored by an influential body of opinion who appeared to reject an organic explanation for psychiatric disorder. The extreme position on this was to view schizophrenia as an understandable escape from pressures in life. The non-organic viewpoint was probably most prevalent in the USA, where psychiatry was dominated by psychoanalytically orientated psychiatrists. In the United Kingdom psychiatry has traditionally been considered as more organic and the prevalence of this view has increased over the last two decades.
Disorders of Brain and Mind highlights the advances that have been made concerning the physical basis of psychiatric disorder in recent years. It is dedicated to the recently retired Professor Alwyn Lishman,