Method In Madness: Case Studies In Cognitive Neuropsychiatry

Method In Madness: Case Studies In Cognitive Neuropsychiatry

In clinical neuropsychiatry, case studies provide invaluable demonstrations of the range and types of unusual psychological states that can occur after brain damage. In the pursuit of objectivity and scientific respectability, however, many academic reports of neuropsychiatric disorders appear cold, contrived and impersonal. The essence and character of the patient's experience and behaviour is easily obscured or even lost - a fact that cannot help researchers, therapists and other practitioners to relate their conceptual knowledge to the flesh-and-blood people they meet in their professional lives. In practice, much of the actual discourse of such patients has been ignored as unworthy of scientific interest. This book describes real patients in a clear and jargon-free way. These cases should serve to reduce the discrepancy between the formal representations of psychiatric illness in the mainstream literature and the reality of people struggling to make sense of their own predicament in everyday life.ReviewMethod in Madness is a splendid and valuable addition to the neuropsychology literature. Its imaginative use of clinical case studies makes the subject live and throb with the dynamic complexities of the inter-relationship of psychological and physical processes. The various contributors have lived up to the requests of the editors to "paint pictures of individual people" and their creativity has resulted in something quite unique - a marvellously readable and provocative text and a challenging overview of one of the most exciting and puzzling areas of medical science. I am sure the book will be enormously successful. - Anthony Clare, St. Patrick's Hospital, DublinI greatly enjoyed reading through this extremely useful book. There is still a lack of material suitable for introductory and graduate courses in psychiatry which covers cognitive neuropsychiatry. In the Decade of the Brain, a book like this is therefore highly welcome as it goes a long way in providing bridges between the mental and the physical realm. The treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders within one general unified framework facilitates discussions between specialties and opens interdisciplinary dialogues. - Manfred Spitzer, University of HeidelbergThe book deserves the success it will surely have. I can imagine using it as a basis for the final year undergraduate seminar, it will be standard reading for neuropsychologists. - John Morton, Cognitive Development Unit, LondonI like the way that the use of case studies in this book has illuminated and humanised the theories of cognitive neuropsychiatry. It has enabled the various contributors to tailor their discussions to take account of the complex psychopathology that leads to mental symptoms in an individual...The book will appeal to a variety of audiences including undergraduate students studying abnormal psychology, also psychologists, neurologists and psychiatrists looking after people with behavioural problems and psychiatric illness. In addition, the book could be targeted at a larger lay audience; the use of case histories enables a naive person quickly to have a good idea of the issues under discussion. - Simon Fleminger, London Hospital Medical College