In Search of Madness: Schizophrenia and Neuroscience

by R. Walter Heinrichs

Overview

Over the last two decades, scientific articles on schizophrenia have doubled in number, and prophecies of breakthrough have appeared and receded. The result is a scattered and confusing mass of evidence that is difficult to evaluate. How much progress has really been made? Are the neurological causes of madness truly in sight? This book evaluates the progress of schizophrenia science by summarizing what is known about how patients with the illness differ from healthy people. The tools of meta-analysis are first explained and then employed to make the strength and consistency of these differences explicit. Beginning with the study of symptoms, then moving through the search for objective disease markers, findings on the cognitive functions, structure, physiology, chemistry, and development of the brain, this book is a journey into the enigma of madness and its science. What emerges is an illness that reveals itself most strongly in thought processes, not biology. As evidence actually becomes weaker and harder to reproduce as research moves from mind to molecule, the harvest of dazzling research techniques turns out to be modest or inconsistent. Schizophrenia is an anomaly at the frontier of mind and brain, but In Search of Madness points the way to its solution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190284022
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/29/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	6 MB

Table of Contents

1. Illness and EvidenceThe Science of SchizophreniaRules of EvidenceConclusion2. The Nature of SymptomsPsychiatric PioneersSymptoms and DiagnosisThe Mind of MadnessThe Delusional WorldCounterfeit ExperienceCrazy ThoughtsGeneral Summary and Conclusions3. The Mark of MadnessCandidate Markers of SchizophreniaTraits and StatesSpecificityMarking GenesConclusions4. Executive IncompetenceThe Search for the Schizophrenic LesionThe Frontal Brain and Its MindSchizophrenia and the Frontal MindPictures of the BrainThe Frontal-Executive Brain and its Contribution to Schizophrenia5. The Biology of MeaningThe Temporal Lobe and its Semantic FunctionsSchizophrenia and the Semantic BrainNeurobiology of the Temporal Lobe in SchizophreniaThe Temporal-Semantic Brain and its Contribution to Schizophrenia6. Neurochemical TempestDopamine: Modulator of Mind and MovementSerotonin: Chemical of Sleep and MoodsGlutamate: The Brain's WorkhorseGeneral Summary and Conclusions7. The Strangeness of ChildrenEssentials of Genetics and Early NeurodevelopmentNeurodevelopmental Evidence and SchizophreniaAbnormalities of Children Vulnerable to SchizophreniaSummary and Conclusions8. Flights of TheoryRoot Problems for Theories of SchizophreniaSchizotaxia, Schizotypy and SchizophreniaNeurodevelopmental Diathesis-Stress TheoriesSummary and Synthesis9. The End of the BeginningThe Neuroscience SweepstakesThe Promissory NoteMultiple Disease StatesThe Anomaly at the Frontier of Mind and BrainConclusion

Editorial Reviews

"This book by Heinrichs is one of the most scholarly treatises by a single author that I have read in the past decade. What makes it unique is that it is written by a research neuropsychologist and that it attempts to integrate a vast array of clinical and research findings regarding the etiology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia. . . . . This book will be a treat for schizophrenia researchers in particular and clinical neuroscience researchers in general. It will serve as an excellent reference for students and trainees in psychiatry, psychology, neurology, and cognitive science. Although intensely evidence based, the book is highly readable and unfolds its content in an intellectually pleasing, systematic approach. . . . [F]or those in search of a coherent and comprehensive understanding of the major modern themes of schizophrenia research, this is a highly worthwhile book to own and to refer to repeatedly." — Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

From the Publisher