This work is a collection of Carl Wenicke’s lectures on neuropsychiatry translated into English for the first time. Beginning with basic concepts about normal brain function, the book moves to clinical topics, dealing first with chronic mental disorders and 'paranoid states', and then to the more complex area of acute mental disorders. Many of the featured topics are still clinically relevant, and matters of contemporary debate. Carl Wernicke is one of the pioneers of neurology and psychiatry; clinicians, researchers and historians will find this of great interest.

This foundational work demystifies the motives behind targeted attacks. In October of 2018, Cesar Sayoc mailed pipe bombs to sixteen supposed critics of former president Donald Trump. After his arrest by the FBI, Sayoc eventually pled guilty to multiple felony charges including using weapons of mass destruction in an attempted domestic terror attack. At the time of his sentencing, Sayoc's defense attorneys used the terms "delusion" and "obsession" to describe the beliefs that led to his actions, arguing that he acquired these beliefs from right-wing media and Facebook interactions. Riveting and surprising in its persuasive simplicity, Extreme Overvalued Beliefs makes a profound argument that most violent targeted attacks are incorrectly classified as motivated by delusions or obsessions. Drawing on exceptionally clear and vivid details of crimes such as the JFK assassination, Oklahoma City bombing, and the January 6th US Capitol attack, as well as the Sandy Hook and Uvalde school shootings, the monograph illuminates three easily understood cognitive drivers of targeted attacks, arguing that we must embrace these in order to thwart future incendiary acts. Reprising the work of neuroscientist Carl Wernicke, Dr. Rahman elegantly separates culturally shared, relished, and extreme ideologies from delusional thinking. Extreme Overvalued Beliefs belongs in the libraries of mental health and legal professionals but will also appeal to those yearning to learn more about the epidemic of mass violence we have become accustomed to living with.

This volume explores the history and historiography of madness from the ancient and medieval worlds to the present day. Covering Africa, Asia and South America as well as Europe and North America, chapters discuss broad topics such as the representation of madness in literature and the visual arts, the material culture of madness, madness within life histories and the increased globalization of knowledge and treatment practices. Chronologically and geographically wide-ranging and providing a fascinating overview of the current state of the field, this is essential reading for all students of the history of madness, mental health, psychiatry and medicine.

Toward a Philosophical Approach to Psychiatry presents a collection of philosophical and historical papers authored by the psychiatrist Kenneth S. Kendler. Written primarily for psychiatrists, psychologists, and other scholars in the mental health professions, as a body of work, the papers offer an accessible distillation of many of the best current ideas from the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of science as applied to problems in psychiatric research and practice. The continuous thread running through these papers is a looking behind the common assumptions that nourish unrealistic expectations about what can be discovered about the nature of psychiatric disorders in the short-term––without abandoning a commitment to scientific progress in the long run. After a foreword by Robert Freedman, the book commences with Peter Zachar’s intellectual biography of Kendler followed by Kendler’s own introductions, providing an autobiographical and conceptual background for each paper. In addition to Kendler’s own writings, this collection includes many important collaborative efforts, including papers with John Campbell, Carl Craver, Kenneth Schaffner, Erik Engstrom, Rodrigo Munoz, George Murphy, and Peter Zachar.

Psychopathology: An Empathic Representational Approach retraces the foundations of classical phenomenological psychopathology and integrates them with modern ideas drawn from anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, computational science, and evolutionary biology to synthesize a comprehensive framework and provide fresh insights. This book explores how the scientific concepts of ‘information and representation’ can be used to understand subjective mental phenomena and integrate them in empathic clinical dialogues during interactions with patients. It explores key issues in clinical psychopathology coherently and systematically, illustrates advanced topics in an accessible manner using clinical case examples, metaphors and clarifying diagrams, and directly links advanced conceptual frameworks with pragmatic skills in the clinical dialogue process. This volume is aimed at a broad audience of mental health professionals, researchers, and students in psychiatry, psychology, and social work. Its interdisciplinary treatment of the subject will also interest biologists, anthropologists, cognitive psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers. ‘In this tour de force, Eric Chen integrates philosophical perspectives with current themes in brain sciences to explain how we experience our environments, ourselves, and each other. An exhilarating framework for modern psychopathological inquiry, this is a must-read for anyone curious about the mind and how it can go awry.’ —Peter B. Jones, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge ‘Eric Chen has created a work that conceptually connects psychopathology to relevant disciplines in biology, evolution, cognition, linguistics, clinical psychiatry, and computational/information domains. It will certainly encourage in-depth reflections and stimulate research in clinical psychopathology.’ —Peter Falkai, Chair of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Munich ‘In the face of social, cultural, and biological changes, psychopathology needs periodic revision. Professor Chen addresses the complexities of this unique task with an original and scholarly approach that will stimulate both clinicians and researchers.’ —Ivana S. Marková, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Hull

The first comprehensive account of delusions, the forms they take clinically and the mysteries behind what causes them.