Book reviews

DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2006.00752.x

Evolution and posttraumatic stress. Disorders of vigilanceand defenceBy Chris Cantor. Published by Taylor & Francis, Basingstoke,

UK. 2005. 222 pp., Paperback £19.99. ISBN 1 58391 771 3

Some years ago, a Danish psychiatrist got into trouble when, inpublic, discussing that we should be aware not to expand ourconcept of PTSD to every person experiencing the bottom fallingout of the grocery bag. Certainly, PTSD has become amoneymaker in the victimization industry, but on the otherhand it certainly is very serious to individuals experiencingcapital trauma.This reviewer never counted the books he read during his

25 years in psychiatry – certainly a lot, many of them formandatory reasons, several out of interest and a few also forfun. This one I read really out of interest and for fun, great fun.In the tradition of Steven and Prise’s Evolutionary Psychiatryfrom 1996, Chris Cantor, senior lector in psychiatry at theUniversity of Queensland, Australia, treats a fascinating themein a fascinating way. He goes through the clinical aspects andthe conventional theories of PTSD. After a short description ofthe evolution of the brain including neuropsychological andneuroendocrinological angles, he discusses PTSD as part ofhuman defensive behaviour, certainly a longer journey than theversion starting with the First World War shellshock.The book is well written, scientifically founded, unafraid of

hypothesizing and what makes it worth reading, in specific, isthat the author, as one of the few I have met in psychiatricliterature, is not afraid of unsentimentally acknowledging thehuman species as being also biological beings in line with all theother mammals that live and have lived on this planet. I canstrongly recommend the book.

Povl Munk-JørgensenUnit for Psychiatric Research

Aalborg Psychiatric Hospital

Mølleparkvej 10

9000 Aalborg

Denmark

DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2006.00753.x

Neurological disorders in famous artistsBy J. Bogousslavsky and F. Boller. Published by Karger A.G.,

Basel, Switzerland, 2005, 192 pp., EUR 78 (US$99.75). ISBN

3 8055 7914 4

Everybody loves case reports; clinicians and scientists, studentsand teachers, professionals and laymen. Some journals bringthem, others do not, mainly because case reports cramp theimpact factor; they are read, but never cited. The very mostpopular case reports are those describing celebrities, royals,artists, writers, politicians and the legions of performersshowing up on TV today, gone tomorrow.

This book describes the ultimate case reports, Neurologicaldisorders in famous artists, most of them 19th-century celeb-rities. It is very interesting that the characters described are theusual suspects known from similar books about mentaldisorders in famous artists: Edgar Allan Poe, Dostoevsky,van Gogh and Robert Schumann, which is another, however,minor argument in the discussion hopefully leading us to amerging of psychiatry and neurology within a not too distantfuture bringing the artificial separation of these two siblings toan end.The book is very informative; this reviewer has indeed

benefited from brushing up part of his knowledge aboutneurology in a very pedagogic way. The romantic nonsenseoften met in similar books about psychiatric disorders in artiststhat the disease makes them better artists and that the diseasecan be diagnosed from the books, paintings, music, etc. is notat all a question in this book, thank you for that. The chaptersare, except for one, edited in a strict forward way giving theinformation about the disease together with a very shortbiography which makes the book useful in, e.g., teaching. Thisreviewer is not in a position to recommend the book toneurologists but to psychiatrists it is definitely not mandatory,but charming and interesting; it can be a useful supplement inteaching and can be recommended to every psychiatrist whohas ambitions beyond daily routine. It is useful over the fullspectrum from teaching to dinner speeches.

Povl Munk-JørgensenUnit for Psychiatric Research

Aalborg Psychiatric Hospital

Mølleparkvej 10

9000 Aalborg

Denmark

Acta Psychiatr Scand 2006: 113: 447All rights reserved

Copyright � 2006 The AuthorsJournal Compilation � 2006 Blackwell Munksgaard

ACTA PSYCHIATRICASCANDINAVICA

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