- Email: [email protected]
Predictability in Psychopharmacology: Predinical and Clinical Correlations
BOOK REVIEWS in individuals who are dependent on drugs or alcohol. The diagnosis and treatment of depressions are reviewed, including electroconvulsive treatment, which is described as a special psychopharmacologic intervention. The authors are an outstanding group of experts who, together, present a very comprehensive survey and review of knowledge, theory, and approa,ch to the depressive syndromes that should be very useful to physicians who are called upon to treat patients with such disorders. Norman Q. Brill, M.D. Los Angeles
Predictability in Psychopharmacology: Preclinical and Clinical Correlations Edited by A. Sudilousky et ai, 303 pp, $22.50, New York, Raven Press, 1975.
• This approximately 300-page book contains varied material intended by the authors to assist physicians in predicting clinical results from preclinical experimentation. Since most of the book deals with preclinical pharmacology, the practicing psychiatrist would not derive much benefit from reading it. On the other hand, chapters that deal with diagnostic problems in patients would not interest a preclinical pharmacologist. Thus, one wonders for which readers the book is illtended. Spitzer'S chapter on reliability of research diagnostic criteria is excellent. The message that rigid uniform criteria are necessary comes across clearly. He has also proposed a set of attractive diagnostic cri-
teria. Zung, in his chapter on diagnosing depression, fails to provide any new insight. The next two chapters by Fink on the use of EEG studies to predict drug action are interesting. However, other workers in the field do not share the enthusiasm of this author. The following three chapters describe predictive tests for anxiolytic drugs. The chapters on preclinical testing and therapeutic evaluation of antidepressive drugs, problems in predicting new psychotropic agents, and evaluation of the Ouke University Behavioral Rating Inventory for drug-generated effects are all excellent and informative. The last three chapters are a general review of the biochemistry of mental illness. Each chapter in itself is well written. The book as a whole is a mixture of clinical psychiatry, biochemistry, animal pharmacology, and human pharmacology. I have difficulty recommending this text to members of any particular discipline, even though it has a good deal of useful material. Perhaps this book would be of most use to clinical psychopharmacologists. J. Ananth, M.D. Montreal
Sensory Isolation and Personality Change Compiled and edited by Mark Kammerman, 310 pp, S12.75, Springfield, Ill., Charles C Thomas, 1977.
• Research into the psychological effects of sensory deprivation (SO) began in the early fifties in response to concern over the "brainwashing" of American soldiers by Chinese and Koreans. A flurry of research, which peaked in the mid-sixties,
generated considerable data supporting SO as being effective in treating various psychiatric disorders, as well as a useful technique for investigating the maintenance of secondary process thinking. Oespite its exciting potential, SO was not exploited, and appeared to be almost forgotten until its rediscovery by Or. Kammerman. Although the book is divided into four parts, it deals with only two types of SO: bed confinement and water suspension. Considerably more research has utilized bed confinement, and reflecting this, 14 of the 17 articles employ this technique. Although the SO of bed confinement is not as complete as in water suspension, it is less expensive, more readily available, and has fewer mechanical difficulties that may cause premature termination of the experience. The great majority of articles in Part I (The Effects of Bed Confinement on Personality) demonstrate that positive changes, as measured by a variety of tests (MMPI, Rorschach, Leary Interpersonal, Rotter, etc.), occurred in those persons who were expected to benefit least from traditional psychotherapy: those with poor verbal ability, "intrapunitive ways of handling hostility," a tendency to act out, and "poorly integrated defense systems." The articles also discuss the mechanisms that might theoretically account for these data. Most propose that SO provides for a regression to primary process thinking with a "breakdown of pathological ego defenses [that] might well permit constructive personality reorganization." The authors in Part II (Bed Confinement: An Increased SusceptiPSYCHOSOMATICS
Predictability in Psychopharmacology: Preclinical and Clinical Correlations Edited by A. Sudilousky et ai, 303 pp, $22.50, New York, Raven Press, 1975.
• This approximately 300-page book contains varied material intended by the authors to assist physicians in predicting clinical results from preclinical experimentation. Since most of the book deals with preclinical pharmacology, the practicing psychiatrist would not derive much benefit from reading it. On the other hand, chapters that deal with diagnostic problems in patients would not interest a preclinical pharmacologist. Thus, one wonders for which readers the book is illtended. Spitzer'S chapter on reliability of research diagnostic criteria is excellent. The message that rigid uniform criteria are necessary comes across clearly. He has also proposed a set of attractive diagnostic cri-
teria. Zung, in his chapter on diagnosing depression, fails to provide any new insight. The next two chapters by Fink on the use of EEG studies to predict drug action are interesting. However, other workers in the field do not share the enthusiasm of this author. The following three chapters describe predictive tests for anxiolytic drugs. The chapters on preclinical testing and therapeutic evaluation of antidepressive drugs, problems in predicting new psychotropic agents, and evaluation of the Ouke University Behavioral Rating Inventory for drug-generated effects are all excellent and informative. The last three chapters are a general review of the biochemistry of mental illness. Each chapter in itself is well written. The book as a whole is a mixture of clinical psychiatry, biochemistry, animal pharmacology, and human pharmacology. I have difficulty recommending this text to members of any particular discipline, even though it has a good deal of useful material. Perhaps this book would be of most use to clinical psychopharmacologists. J. Ananth, M.D. Montreal
Sensory Isolation and Personality Change Compiled and edited by Mark Kammerman, 310 pp, S12.75, Springfield, Ill., Charles C Thomas, 1977.
• Research into the psychological effects of sensory deprivation (SO) began in the early fifties in response to concern over the "brainwashing" of American soldiers by Chinese and Koreans. A flurry of research, which peaked in the mid-sixties,
generated considerable data supporting SO as being effective in treating various psychiatric disorders, as well as a useful technique for investigating the maintenance of secondary process thinking. Oespite its exciting potential, SO was not exploited, and appeared to be almost forgotten until its rediscovery by Or. Kammerman. Although the book is divided into four parts, it deals with only two types of SO: bed confinement and water suspension. Considerably more research has utilized bed confinement, and reflecting this, 14 of the 17 articles employ this technique. Although the SO of bed confinement is not as complete as in water suspension, it is less expensive, more readily available, and has fewer mechanical difficulties that may cause premature termination of the experience. The great majority of articles in Part I (The Effects of Bed Confinement on Personality) demonstrate that positive changes, as measured by a variety of tests (MMPI, Rorschach, Leary Interpersonal, Rotter, etc.), occurred in those persons who were expected to benefit least from traditional psychotherapy: those with poor verbal ability, "intrapunitive ways of handling hostility," a tendency to act out, and "poorly integrated defense systems." The articles also discuss the mechanisms that might theoretically account for these data. Most propose that SO provides for a regression to primary process thinking with a "breakdown of pathological ego defenses [that] might well permit constructive personality reorganization." The authors in Part II (Bed Confinement: An Increased SusceptiPSYCHOSOMATICS