The Madness of Fear: A History of Catatonia
What are the real disease entities in psychiatry? This is a question that has bedeviled the study of the mind for more than a century yet it is low on the research agenda of psychiatry. Basic science issues such as neuroimaging, neurochemistry, and genetics carry the day instead. There is nothing wrong with basic science research, but before studying the role of brain circuits or cerebral chemistry, shouldn't we be able to specify how the various diseases present clinically?

Catatonia is a human behavioral syndrome that for almost a century was buried in the poorly designated psychiatric concept of schizophrenia. Its symptoms are well-know, and some of them are serious. Catatonic patients may die as their temperatures accelerate; they become dehydrated because they refuse to drink; they risk inanition because they refuse to eat or move. Autistic children with catatonia may hit themselves repeatedly in the head. We don't really know what catatonia is, in the sense that we know what pneumonia is. But we can identify it, and it is eminently treatable. Clinicians can make these patients better on a reliable basis. There are few other disease entities in psychiatry of which this is true.

So why has there been so little psychiatric interest in catatonia? Why is it simply not on the radar of most clinicians? Catatonia actually occurs in a number of other medical illnesses as well, but it is certainly not on the radar of most internists or emergency physicians.

In The Madness of Fear, Drs. Shorter and Fink seek to understand why this "vast field of ignorance" exists. In the history of catatonia, they see a remarkable story about how medicine flounders, and then seems to find its way. And it may help doctors, and the public, to recognize catatonia as one of the core illnesses in psychiatry.
1128234802
The Madness of Fear: A History of Catatonia
What are the real disease entities in psychiatry? This is a question that has bedeviled the study of the mind for more than a century yet it is low on the research agenda of psychiatry. Basic science issues such as neuroimaging, neurochemistry, and genetics carry the day instead. There is nothing wrong with basic science research, but before studying the role of brain circuits or cerebral chemistry, shouldn't we be able to specify how the various diseases present clinically?

Catatonia is a human behavioral syndrome that for almost a century was buried in the poorly designated psychiatric concept of schizophrenia. Its symptoms are well-know, and some of them are serious. Catatonic patients may die as their temperatures accelerate; they become dehydrated because they refuse to drink; they risk inanition because they refuse to eat or move. Autistic children with catatonia may hit themselves repeatedly in the head. We don't really know what catatonia is, in the sense that we know what pneumonia is. But we can identify it, and it is eminently treatable. Clinicians can make these patients better on a reliable basis. There are few other disease entities in psychiatry of which this is true.

So why has there been so little psychiatric interest in catatonia? Why is it simply not on the radar of most clinicians? Catatonia actually occurs in a number of other medical illnesses as well, but it is certainly not on the radar of most internists or emergency physicians.

In The Madness of Fear, Drs. Shorter and Fink seek to understand why this "vast field of ignorance" exists. In the history of catatonia, they see a remarkable story about how medicine flounders, and then seems to find its way. And it may help doctors, and the public, to recognize catatonia as one of the core illnesses in psychiatry.
64.0 In Stock
The Madness of Fear: A History of Catatonia

The Madness of Fear: A History of Catatonia

by Edward Shorter, Max Fink
The Madness of Fear: A History of Catatonia

The Madness of Fear: A History of Catatonia

by Edward Shorter, Max Fink

Paperback

$64.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Ships in 1-2 days
  • PICK UP IN STORE

    Your local store may have stock of this item.

Related collections and offers


Overview

What are the real disease entities in psychiatry? This is a question that has bedeviled the study of the mind for more than a century yet it is low on the research agenda of psychiatry. Basic science issues such as neuroimaging, neurochemistry, and genetics carry the day instead. There is nothing wrong with basic science research, but before studying the role of brain circuits or cerebral chemistry, shouldn't we be able to specify how the various diseases present clinically?

Catatonia is a human behavioral syndrome that for almost a century was buried in the poorly designated psychiatric concept of schizophrenia. Its symptoms are well-know, and some of them are serious. Catatonic patients may die as their temperatures accelerate; they become dehydrated because they refuse to drink; they risk inanition because they refuse to eat or move. Autistic children with catatonia may hit themselves repeatedly in the head. We don't really know what catatonia is, in the sense that we know what pneumonia is. But we can identify it, and it is eminently treatable. Clinicians can make these patients better on a reliable basis. There are few other disease entities in psychiatry of which this is true.

So why has there been so little psychiatric interest in catatonia? Why is it simply not on the radar of most clinicians? Catatonia actually occurs in a number of other medical illnesses as well, but it is certainly not on the radar of most internists or emergency physicians.

In The Madness of Fear, Drs. Shorter and Fink seek to understand why this "vast field of ignorance" exists. In the history of catatonia, they see a remarkable story about how medicine flounders, and then seems to find its way. And it may help doctors, and the public, to recognize catatonia as one of the core illnesses in psychiatry.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780190881191
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication date: 07/27/2018
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Edward Shorter, PhD, FRSC
After receiving a PhD from Harvard University in 1968, Dr Shorter took up a History appointment at the University of Toronto, where he became the Jason A Hannah Professor of the History of Medicine in 1991. Shorter, who teaches in the Faculty of Medicine and is a member of the Department of Psychiatry, has written numerous books, including a History of Psychiatry (Wylie 1996) and How Everyone Became Depressed (Oxford UP, 2013).

Max Fink, MD
After receiving an M.D. from the New York University School of Medicine in 1945, Dr. Fink qualified in neurology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Began a life-time research career on the practice and mechanisms of convulsive therapy (electroshock). Interest in new psychoactive agents led to digital computer analysis of drug effects laying the foundation for the science of pharmaco-EEG. Interest in the syndromes of catatonia and melancholia began in 1977 leading to texts and histories of both syndromes.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction

2. Catatonia Before Kahlbaum

3. Karl Kahlbaum

4. Emil Kraepelin

5. Eugen Bleuler

6. Kidnapped!

7. Psychology

8. Delirious Mania and Febrile Catatonia

9. The Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome

10. Symptoms and Diagnoses

11. Catatonia in DSM-III and after

12. New Faces of Catatonia?

13. Treatments

14. L'Envoi

Abbreviations

Endnotes
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews