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Rating: 
Summary: significant contribution
Review: A must for all persons desiring a greater understanding of mood disorder.
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Summary: One doc's deeply compassionate view of bipolar disorder
Review: As noted by other readers, this new printing is the same book published in 1997. My original hardback version is dog-eared and highlighted, and I frequently turn to those passages for inspiration and hope. It is clear by his writing that Dr. Whybrow loves what he does as a psychiatrist and cares deeply for his patients. Through story-telling with some occasional science thrown in (and the suthor warns the reader ahead of time, in case they wish to skip it), Whybrow weaves a tale that almost reads like a novel. I honestly could not put it down! "A Mood Apart" has a human quality to it that many books on illnesses lack. Since the information is derived from patient histories, credibility is high, and identifying with the "characters" is easy. Dr. Whybrow assures us there is hope for those with bipolar disorder.
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Summary: I FOUND THIS BOOK TO BE CHOCK FULL OF INFORMATION AS WELL AS
Review: BEING INTERESTING. There is considerable historical information. While you might not choose to read this cover to cover, it also makes and excellent resourse book with EXTENSIVE indexes in the back for subjects, other places to find info etc. I don't think you can possibly be too informed when it comes to your own health care. This a wonderful adjunct to any library, personal or otherwise.
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Summary: The best book I've read on this subject by far.
Review: Dr. Whybrow is amazing. He's a good writer (most doctors are not!) and clearly cares deeply about both his patients and his readers. He conveys an enormous amount of information about the workings of the brain, well and otherwise, in an engaging style. He also provides the only remotely plausible explanation of how ECT works that I've ever read. I have those sticky-tab note-things porcupining out from nearly every page, to be referred to again and again.
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Summary: A Review Apart
Review: I whole heartedly agree with all of the other reviews. This book is tremendously insightful. I would like to add that this is not a book solely about bi-polar and manic depression. It is also about unipolar depression. I found that to read about all these types of depression together to be very insightful about my own place amongst all the variations. And this was a very interesting point made by the book that all these types of variables do occur in people without the dehabilitating forms of these illnesses. The form of the illness is not out of the ordinary, so to speak. Excellent book. Layered with insights into biology, psychology, history, genetics, and evolutionary adaptation.
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Summary: A Review Apart
Review: I whole heartedly agree with all of the other reviews. This book is tremendously insightful. I would like to add that this is not a book solely about bi-polar and manic depression. It is also about unipolar depression. I found that to read about all these types of depression together to be very insightful about my own place amongst all the variations. And this was a very interesting point made by the book that all these types of variables do occur in people without the dehabilitating forms of these illnesses. The form of the illness is not out of the ordinary, so to speak. Excellent book. Layered with insights into biology, psychology, history, genetics, and evolutionary adaptation.
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Summary: A very informative and valuable piece of work
Review: I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in manic depression, but who knows little about the subject. Dr. Whybrow explains the various social, psychological and in particular, biological factors that surround manic depression. I found the individual case studies the most interesting as they highlighted the human torture that ordinary people suffer through mental illness. The author also explains how many of the now commonly known drugs - such as 'prozac' and 'lithium' - have done much to alleviate the plight of such people. For those wary of medical jargon, the author does detail the chemical processes in the brain that can cause/alleviate depression, but this only covers a relatively small section of the book. The book is comprehensively referenced and is very well written. Overall and perhaps most importantly, Dr. Whybrow has written a book that has done alot to dispel the stigma associated with mental illness and if you have any interest in the subject I would urge you to read it.
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Summary: Informative and enjoyable
Review: This is a well written, informative and even enjoyable book to read on what is in many ways a difficult subject for people. The author discusses the psychological, physiological, and social factors surrounding bipolar disorders and depression and discusses current treatments and how they work. The book is full of a tremendous amount of practical information that should be of use to anyone concerned with this subject.
I myself studied the neurobiology and psychology of emotion and moods in grad school, and I thought I'd make a few more comments there, since we're on the subject, in case anyone finds them useful.
As many people are aware, much of the research up to this point on mood disorders has focused on the serotonin and dopaminergic issues, especially since these chemicals have a profound influence on the limbic system areas and the areas they connect with, such as the temporal, frontal, and prefrontal cortex, which are responsible for emotional behavior and many aspects of personality. It is well established that chemical imbalances and/or damage, such as through trauma and stroke and so on, can cause various syndromes, ranging from mood and emotional disorders to cognitive deficiencies. We still have a lot to learn about all this, but the basic chemical pathways, neurophysiology, and neuroanatomy has been worked out pretty well at this point. We'll be able to make more specific correlations as further progress is made. For example, deficits in long-term motivation (which many people have) have been found to be associated with the nerve pathways connecting the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system.
Some of this research may even be relevant to issues relating to schizophrenia and even the problem of consciousness itself. For example one thing that has become clear in recent decades is that what we call "consciousness" actually results from the integration of separate and diverse brain areas whose functions have to be coordinated in time in order for consciousness to occur, and that when this integration becomes impaired, there are problems. It has been suggested that this by itself could be responsible for schizophrenia. Of course, it remains to be seen if can be treated some way, but again, our understanding of the possible mechanism is continuing to progress.
Another fascinating study I read relating to another aspect of emotional behavior was the finding that 70% of death-row inmates have been found to have abnormal EEGs and brain waves emanating from the amygdala, a structure in that primitive and often nefarious region of our brains known as the limbic system, wherein many of our most basic motivations, drives and needs are controlled--both good and bad.
The amygdala is well known to be involved in aggressive and even homicidal behavior. In one famous case, a formerly quiet, unassuming man developed an amygdalar tumor and went up a tower at the Univ. of Texas back in the early 60s and shot 17 people and wounded 30 others before he was stopped. There are now drugs that treat abnormal electrical activity in the brain, and the hope is that someday they may even be able to detect and prevent situations like this.
For a another fascinating example, take homosexuality, which many people still think is a form of psychopathology. Freud said it was because the boy didn't have a strong father figure, and so doesn't know better. For years homosexuals were treated with psychoanalysis with no effect. Then about 20 years ago, a scientist at Caltech made the amazing discovery that heterosexuals and homosexuals had different neurochemical and anatomical characteristics in one of the limbic areas known as the neurosecretory zone of the preoptic hypothalamic nucleus. In fact, he was able to get animals to display either heterosexual or homosexual behavior by diffusing neurosynaptic chemicals into the preoptic area. So much for the Freudian theory. This research proves that this aspect of our behavior is due entirely to how are brains are wired from birth, and has nothing to do with old notions of psychopathology.
Finally, one of the most fascinating cases I came across was a number of people who had been perfectly normal, but had recently become almost complete "vegetables" and had to be hospitalized. At least so they seemed on the surface. There was nothing wrong with them cognitively, they still had normal reasoning ability and could talk and socialize if they wanted to. They just had no interest in it. They progressively lost interest in their famlies, jobs, friends, everything, and eventually had to be hospitalized.
Finally, it was discovered that these people had amazingly developed an epileptic seizure focus in the orgasm center in the brain. It's been a while since I read the article, but if I remember right, it had the tongue-twisting name of the nucleus reticularis gigantocellularis. In any case, it was in one of the somatosensory processing areas in the thalamus, which is a structure just below the cortex but above the limbic system. Although this is technically a form of epilepsy, there are no convulsions associated with this syndrome (just as there aren't in the case of temporal-lobe epilepsy, which, since it occurs in the memory and associational area of the brain, produces intense visions and memories).
Now it was obvious why these people weren't interested in anything else in their lives. They had orgasms that went on for several minutes, and due to the intensity of the electrical discharge, were probably 10 to 100 times as intense as a normal person's orgasms. And they kept having them. Especially the women patients said it was better than anything they could experience before. So they just sat there, waiting, yearning, hoping, for that next "seizure."
Of course, these people don't want to be cured. As for me, I want to know how I can sign up. :-)
Anyway, just a few interesting things to consider relating to our knowledge of the brain and behavior. I realize I departed somewhat from the original focus of mood and emotional disorders, but perhaps you'll find my comments about other areas of the mind and brain informative or at least interesting.
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