- Email: [email protected]
Antidepressants and receptor function
BOOK REVIEWS
314
or. no conclusion at all. The presentation of titles and subtitles in the various sections or sub-sections also varies (even within the same chapter). The point appears to be missed in the final “concluding remarks” at the end of the book, some authors did not offer a really critical review. Nevertheless, this book should be accessible to undergraduate students, interested in behavioural neuroscience and behavioural pharmacology,. It should be useful for research workers and graduate students in basic neuroscience as well as clinical sctences, even if they have to complete the bibliography with other specific papers and other books. G. &lLHAUU
Neuropsychological Assessment of Neuropsychiatric University Press, Oxford, 1986.
Disorders.
Edited by I. GRANT and K. M. ADAMS. Oxford
THIS USEFULbook contains a survey of the methods currently employed in neuropsychological assessment and reviews of the neuropsychology of the major neuropsychiatric disorders. As such it presents a comprehensive guide to the state of neuropsychology in Europe and North America. The first five chapters, grouped together to review “Methods of Comprehensive Neuropsychological Assessment” are excellent, being both informative of the major approaches in comprehensive assessment (such as Halstead-Reitan, the cognitive analytical approach of the Boston process approach) as well as giving consideration to future developments (such as the use of computers in neuropsychological assessment, probably an inevitable development, though one which must, as the authors (Kenneth Adams and Gregory Brown) point out be driven by first-hand experience in the clinic rather than the computer laboratory). The remainder of the book is given over to 14 chapters which discuss various neuropsychiatric disorders. The editors have done us a service here in choosing to cover the major disorders-schizophrenia, dementia, Parkinson’s disease and so on-and also a variety of conditions sometimes overlooked. As one must expect of any collection of chapters separately written some are better than others both in the presentation of their field and in the clarity of their prose but, notwithstanding this, the overall standard is very high and there is a lot to learn and re-learn from these. This book will be a very good reference standard in modern neuropsychology. P. W~NN
Antidepressants and Receptor Function. Edited Symposium 123. John Wiley & Sons, 1986.
by R. PORTER, G. BOCK and S. CI.AKK. CIBA
Foundation
THIS BOOKis the product
of a CIBA Symposium held in London, chaired by Dennis Murphy, and called to discuss the pharmacotherapy of depression. For obvious reasons there is a heavy concentration on the actions of antidepressants with regard to monoamine functions, in particular noradrenergic activity, although other related aspects of antidepressant function are not ignored. The style of this book, like other CIBA Symposia, is splendid, including the presentations of the speakers and transcripts of the discussion which followed. To the credit of the organisers the concentration of biochemical effort represented here does not obscure the importance of setting pharmacological actions in a behavioural context, and various animal models of depression are included here acting as surrogates for the real thing. General neuroscientific principles are also covered, in that there is discussion in some chapters of what noradrenalin actually does in the CNS: the alteration ofsignal-to-noise ratios or adaptive functions are both discussed. However, while a general discussion of animal models would clearly be inappropriate in a volume such as this, one or two chapters dealing with the actions of noradrenlin per se might have been useful so that the discussion of antidepressant action could have been set against a background of current knowledge concerning the release and receptor imeractions of this transmitter. This however is, I know, uncharitable. The symposium intended to debate antidepressants and receptor function and did so splendidly, and I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the pharmacotherapy of depression. P. WlNN
Memory and Amnesia: An Introduction. hardback, &7.95 paperback.
By ALAN J. PARKIN. Basil Blackwell,
Oxford,
1987, 227 pp., E22.50
THE MAINgoal of this book is to provide an introductory text to every student who might be concerned with memory questions and specifically with memory disorders. In the first part, general psychological aspects of normal memory
314
or. no conclusion at all. The presentation of titles and subtitles in the various sections or sub-sections also varies (even within the same chapter). The point appears to be missed in the final “concluding remarks” at the end of the book, some authors did not offer a really critical review. Nevertheless, this book should be accessible to undergraduate students, interested in behavioural neuroscience and behavioural pharmacology,. It should be useful for research workers and graduate students in basic neuroscience as well as clinical sctences, even if they have to complete the bibliography with other specific papers and other books. G. &lLHAUU
Neuropsychological Assessment of Neuropsychiatric University Press, Oxford, 1986.
Disorders.
Edited by I. GRANT and K. M. ADAMS. Oxford
THIS USEFULbook contains a survey of the methods currently employed in neuropsychological assessment and reviews of the neuropsychology of the major neuropsychiatric disorders. As such it presents a comprehensive guide to the state of neuropsychology in Europe and North America. The first five chapters, grouped together to review “Methods of Comprehensive Neuropsychological Assessment” are excellent, being both informative of the major approaches in comprehensive assessment (such as Halstead-Reitan, the cognitive analytical approach of the Boston process approach) as well as giving consideration to future developments (such as the use of computers in neuropsychological assessment, probably an inevitable development, though one which must, as the authors (Kenneth Adams and Gregory Brown) point out be driven by first-hand experience in the clinic rather than the computer laboratory). The remainder of the book is given over to 14 chapters which discuss various neuropsychiatric disorders. The editors have done us a service here in choosing to cover the major disorders-schizophrenia, dementia, Parkinson’s disease and so on-and also a variety of conditions sometimes overlooked. As one must expect of any collection of chapters separately written some are better than others both in the presentation of their field and in the clarity of their prose but, notwithstanding this, the overall standard is very high and there is a lot to learn and re-learn from these. This book will be a very good reference standard in modern neuropsychology. P. W~NN
Antidepressants and Receptor Function. Edited Symposium 123. John Wiley & Sons, 1986.
by R. PORTER, G. BOCK and S. CI.AKK. CIBA
Foundation
THIS BOOKis the product
of a CIBA Symposium held in London, chaired by Dennis Murphy, and called to discuss the pharmacotherapy of depression. For obvious reasons there is a heavy concentration on the actions of antidepressants with regard to monoamine functions, in particular noradrenergic activity, although other related aspects of antidepressant function are not ignored. The style of this book, like other CIBA Symposia, is splendid, including the presentations of the speakers and transcripts of the discussion which followed. To the credit of the organisers the concentration of biochemical effort represented here does not obscure the importance of setting pharmacological actions in a behavioural context, and various animal models of depression are included here acting as surrogates for the real thing. General neuroscientific principles are also covered, in that there is discussion in some chapters of what noradrenalin actually does in the CNS: the alteration ofsignal-to-noise ratios or adaptive functions are both discussed. However, while a general discussion of animal models would clearly be inappropriate in a volume such as this, one or two chapters dealing with the actions of noradrenlin per se might have been useful so that the discussion of antidepressant action could have been set against a background of current knowledge concerning the release and receptor imeractions of this transmitter. This however is, I know, uncharitable. The symposium intended to debate antidepressants and receptor function and did so splendidly, and I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the pharmacotherapy of depression. P. WlNN
Memory and Amnesia: An Introduction. hardback, &7.95 paperback.
By ALAN J. PARKIN. Basil Blackwell,
Oxford,
1987, 227 pp., E22.50
THE MAINgoal of this book is to provide an introductory text to every student who might be concerned with memory questions and specifically with memory disorders. In the first part, general psychological aspects of normal memory