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Brave New Brain
Conquering Mental Illness in the Era of the Genome
NANCY C. ANDREASEN
An eminent neuroscientist offers the first comprehensive account of mental illness against the backdrop of the Human Genome Project
Nancy Andreasen, a leading neuroscientist who is also Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious American Journal of Psychiatry as well as the winner of the illustrious National Medal of Science, offers here a state-of-the-art look at what we know about the human brain and the human genome--and shows how these two vast branches of knowledge are coming together in a boldly ambitious effort to conquer mental illness.
Scientists today know more about the brain than ever before, thanks to new imaging techniques and to discoveries in neuroscience and molecular biology. Andreasen gives us an engaging and readable description of how it all works, from the billions of neurons to the tiny thalamus to the moral monitor in our prefrontal cortex. She also shows the progress made in mapping the human genome, whose 30,000-40,000 genes are almost all active in the brain. In perhaps the most fascinating section of the book, we read gripping stories of the people who develop mental illness, the friends and relatives who share their suffering, the physicians who treat them, and the scientists who study them so that better treatments can be found. This section covers four major disorders--schizophrenia, manic depression, anxiety disorders, and dementia--revealing what causes them, what happens to the mind and brain, and how the illnesses are treated. Finally, the book shows how the powerful tools of genetics and neuroscience will be combined during the next decades to build healthier brains and minds.
Andreasen's bestselling The Broken Brain broke new ground in the public understanding of mental illness. Now, by revealing how combining genome mapping with brain mapping can unlock the mysteries of mental illness, she again offers general readers a remarkably fresh perspective on these devastating diseases--their nature, treatment, and possible future prevention.
"Written with clarity and sensitivity, this study offers a refreshing, optimistic vision of the future."--Library Journal
"Nancy Andreasen is an internationally respected neuroscientist and a gifted writer. In Brave New Brain she succeeds at a daunting task, to walk the general reader through most of what is known today about the biology of mind. For anyone curious about the puzzles of disordered thought, mood, and behavior, this book is the right place to begin."--Peter D. Kramer, M.D., author of Listening to Prozac
"I loved Brave New Brain! It is clear, extremely informative and conveys the excitement of biological psychiatry that has been energized by the genome and imaging. I think Nancy Andreasen's book is the best so far on this subject. Her quotes are memorable. This is a serious book but almost makes for compulsive reading."--Judith L. Rapoport, M.D., National Institute of Mental Health
"We have entered the 'golden age of neuroscience,' and if you read this fascinating and accessible book, you will know why. From genome mapping to brain scanning, a whole new world is opening up with profound implications for both medicine and philosophy."--Frank Conroy, author of Body & Soul, Midair, and Stop-Time
"A breath of fresh air. It is sufficiently probing, original and well documented that it will be a valuable resource to professional scientists and psychiatrists. At the same time, Dr. Andreasen's gifts as a writer (she has a doctorate in English literature) result in an immensely accessible volume.... This may be the finest book of this type I have ever encountered."--Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
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Nancy C. Andreasen, M.D., Ph.D., is Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry at The University of Iowa College of Medicine. The Editor-in-Chief of The American Journal of Psychiatry and a member of the task force that developed both the DSM III and DSM IV, she has won numerous awards, has written ten other books and hundreds of articles. Her previous book for general readers, The Broken Brain, was the first to describe the importance of neurobiology to understanding mental illness. She lives in Iowa City and Santa Fe.
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390 pp.; 37 halftones & line illus; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; 0-19-514509-7
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