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Cover image of The Intentional Brain
Cover image of The Intentional Brain
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The Intentional Brain

Motion, Emotion, and the Development of Modern Neuropsychiatry

Michael R. Trimble, MD

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A magnificent examination of the clinical interface between the mind and the brain.

Neuropsychiatry has a distinguished history, yet its ideals and principles fell out of fashion in the early twentieth century as neurology and psychiatry diverged into separate disciplines. Later, neuropsychiatry reemerged as the two disciplines moved closer again, accelerated by advances in neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and drugs that alter the functioning of the central nervous system. But as neuropsychiatrist Michael R. Trimble explains in The Intentional Brain, the new neuropsychiatry has its own identity...

A magnificent examination of the clinical interface between the mind and the brain.

Neuropsychiatry has a distinguished history, yet its ideals and principles fell out of fashion in the early twentieth century as neurology and psychiatry diverged into separate disciplines. Later, neuropsychiatry reemerged as the two disciplines moved closer again, accelerated by advances in neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and drugs that alter the functioning of the central nervous system. But as neuropsychiatrist Michael R. Trimble explains in The Intentional Brain, the new neuropsychiatry has its own identity and is more than simply a borderland between two disparate clinical disciplines.

Looking at neuropsychiatry in the context of major cultural and artistic achievements, Trimble explores changing views of the human brain and its relation to behavior and cognition over 2,500 years of Western civilization. Beginning with the early Greek physicians and moving through the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment, the romantic era, the World Wars, and up to the present day, he explores understandings about the brain’s integral role in determining movement, motivation, and mood. Persuasively arguing that storytelling forms the backbone of human culture and individuality, Trimble describes the dawn and development of artistic creativity and traces the conflicts between differing philosophical views of our world and our position in it.

A sweeping history of the branch of medicine concerned with both psychic and organic aspects of mental disorder, the book reveals what scientists have learned about movement and emotion by studying people with such diseases as epilepsy, syphilis, hysteria, psychosis, movement disorders, and melancholia. The Intentional Brain is a marvelous and interdisciplinary look at the clinical interface between the mind and the brain.

Reviews

Reviews

It reminded me exactly why I love psychiatry, for its complex history and ongoing scientific mystery. If you are feeling in need of a reminder of how far we have come, Trimble may provide just that inspiration.

This survey is strongest once it has gathered momentum, especially in the romantic period. The briefer, early chapters, dealing with pre-enlightenment thinking, feel dutiful at times, while those that follow are written with great enthusiasm.

Orginal...

Known to psychiatrists, neurologists, and medical historians as the neuropsychiatrists’ neuropsychiatrist, Michael Trimble has written a tour de force: an assessment of the ‘culture’ of mind–brain relations beginning with the ancients and ending in the present, and highlighting the romantic era of the nineteenth century as a crucial turning point. There is nothing else like it.

Accessible and enjoyable. This book's breadth of vision will appeal to a wide audience.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
328
ISBN
9781421419497
Illustration Description
12 halftones, 4 line drawings
Table of Contents

Preface
1. Origins of the Romance
2. The Middle Ages
3. The Renaissance
4. The Enlightenment
5. Romanticism
6. Late Romanticism
7. Charcot's Joints
8. The Division of the Hemispheres
9. Fin de Siècle
10. The

Preface
1. Origins of the Romance
2. The Middle Ages
3. The Renaissance
4. The Enlightenment
5. Romanticism
6. Late Romanticism
7. Charcot's Joints
8. The Division of the Hemispheres
9. Fin de Siècle
10. The Turn of the Screw
11. The In-Between Years
12. After the War
13. Coda
14. Neuropsychiatry, Then and Now
Acknowledgments
Name Index
Subject Index

Author Bio
Michael R. Trimble, MD
Featured Contributor

Michael R. Trimble, MD

Michael R. Trimble, MD, is professor emeritus of behavioral neurology at University College London's Institute of Neurology. He is the author of The Intentional Brain: Motion, Emotion, and the Development of Modern Neuropsychiatry, also published by Johns Hopkins.
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