5. Inconsistencies about madness
Michael Dunn and Tony Hope
in Medical Ethics: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
‘Inconsistencies about madness’ examines the different standards used in enforcing treatment and secure accommodation for those with and without mental disorder and considers the links with ...
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1. What is psychiatry?
Tom Burns
in Psychiatry: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
Psychiatry deals with consciousness, choice, motivation, free will, relationships—everything that makes us human. ‘What is psychiatry?’ emphasizes that psychiatry is a branch of medicine ...
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3. Medicine in the hospital
William Bynum
in The History of Medicine: A Very Short Introduction
‘Medicine in the hospital’ charts the ‘medical revolution’ seen in nineteenth-century France, and the development of new techniques in the diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental ...
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7. Dreaming as delirium: sleep and mental illness
J. Allan Hobson
in Dreaming: A Very Short Introduction
‘Dreaming as delirium’ shows that dreaming and severe mental illness are not only analogous, but identical. It is easy to imagine that physical changes in brain state can produce psychosis, ...
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Psychiatry: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
Tom Burns
Psychiatry: A Very Short Introduction explores the nature of psychiatry, focusing on what it can and cannot do, and discussing why its history has been beset by dramatic shifts ...
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7. Into the 21st century
Tom Burns
in Psychiatry: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
‘Into the 21st century’ explains how there is an increased focus on how our body, and not just the brain, influences our mental health. Rapidly advancing computer technology, including ...
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6. Madness cast out
Andrew Scull
in Madness: A Very Short Introduction
‘Madness cast out’ examines the dramatic changes in the psychiatric landscape that marked the late 20th century. These include the eclipse of psychoanalysis, a shift back to biological ...
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5. Why dream? The functions of brain activation in sleep
J. Allan Hobson
in Dreaming: A Very Short Introduction
‘Why dream?’ 5 considers the implication for the development of the abundant, florid REM sleep of all mammalian newborns, the changes that occur during brain development, and the effects of ...
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4. The state in the bedroom
Véronique Mottier
in Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction
The sexual revolution of the 1960s, brought on by reliable methods of contraception, the legalization of abortion, and the relaxation of moral controls led to greater openness, legal ...
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5. Genius and madness
Andrew Robinson
in Genius: A Very Short Introduction
The idea of a connection between genius and madness has a long history. ‘Genius and madness’ considers the beliefs from Aristotle through to the modern day. Three studies of different types ...
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1. Madness unbound
Andrew Scull
in Madness: A Very Short Introduction
‘Madness unbound ’ explores social responses to madness. Our interpretations of it, and our notions of what is to be done about it, have varied remarkably over the centuries. Our early ...
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5. When learning goes wrong
Mark Haselgrove
in Learning: A Very Short Introduction
Learning can be very adaptive, but sometimes, for some reason, it goes wrong. First, the properties of learning can go awry, so that inappropriate associations develop. Alternatively, ...
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2. Family affairs
Andrew Robinson
in Genius: A Very Short Introduction
‘Family affairs’ discusses the role of parents, siblings, partners, offspring, and grandparents in the creation or nurture of geniuses. There is clearly some relationship between heredity ...
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6. Chameleon personalities
Andrew Robinson
in Genius: A Very Short Introduction
Is there a personality conducive to genius? ‘Chameleon personalities’ considers this question by looking at personality traits. Personality is now widely tested using a ‘five-factor model’. ...
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5. Psychiatry under attack—inside and out
Tom Burns
in Psychiatry: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
‘Psychiatry under attack’ focuses on the contradictions inherent in psychiatry. The mind–brain relationship is the big issue in psychiatry. It would be simple if psychiatry were just about ...
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The History of Medicine: A Very Short Introduction
William Bynum
The History of Medicine: A Very Short Introduction assesses the origins and development of medicine from ancient times, through the scholastic medieval tradition and the ...
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Madness: A Very Short Introduction
Andrew Scull
Madness: A Very Short Introduction examines the social, cultural, medical, and artistic responses to mental disturbance across more than two millennia, Madness is something ...
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4. Cells and molecules of the dreaming brain
J. Allan Hobson
in Dreaming: A Very Short Introduction
‘Cells and molecules of the dreaming brain’ shows that REM sleep always involves intense brain self-activation, occurs in all mammalian species, is carefully controlled by a genetically ...
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Dreaming: A Very Short Introduction
J. Allan Hobson
Dreaming: A Very Short Introduction provides an increasingly complete picture of how dreaming is created by the brain. It explores how the new science of dreaming is affecting ...
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2. The invention of sexuality
Véronique Mottier
in Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction
Christianity placed sex at the centre of Christian morality by giving it a special status as the original sin. Christianity created institutional mechanisms for incessant analysis of one's ...
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