Table of Contents
One: Lions and Tigers and Bears are Not Why: Angst is the Modern
Echo of Evolved Social Instincts
Part I: Six Social Instincts: Five Usual Suspects and One Missing
Think
Two: Don't Stray Far From Family, Home or Safety: Panic Anxiety
Three: Follow the Leader of the Pack: Social Anxiety
Four: A Sure and Tidy Nest (Clean, Arrange, Save and Behave):
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Five: Go Along to Get Along: Atypical Depression
Six: Feeling So Useless You Could Die: Melancholic Depression
Seven: Consciousness Lost and Instinct Run Amok: Schizophrenia and
Psychosis
Part II: Civilization: The Rise of Reason and the Ascent of
Angst
Eight: Happy in the Herd: Instinctive Herds and Primeval
Ignorance
Nine: Climbing To Civilization: The Rise of Reason and the Ascent
of Angst
Ten: Illness and Instinct: Consciousness Has Consequences
Eleven: Free to Choose: How to Balance Your Reason and Instinct
Appendix of Diagnostic Criteria
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Jeffrey P. Kahn, MD is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Weill-Cornell Medical College, in New York City and Westchester County.
"Why does mental illness persist when it would seem to be
counterproductive in an evolutionary sense? Kahn argues that
certain traits that promote group fitness can, in a modern context
and if exaggerated, manifest as serious mental illness . . . A
lively presentation." --Library Journal
"An amazingly insightful and timely book, Angst will make you think
and rethink the way our brains deal with anxiety and tragedy." --
Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD is a cancer physician and researcher at
Columbia University. His book The Emperor of All Maladies: A
Biography of Cancer won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in general
non-fiction.
"Most of the theorists who study mental illness through the lens of
evolution have never seen a patient themselves. This is what makes
Dr. Kahn's approach unique. Dr. Kahn refracts theory through his
rich experience as a clinician and the result is a thesis on
evolutionary psychiatry that is both conceptually rich and
pragmatically valuable." -- Sally Satel, MD, Yale University
psychiatry faculty, popular author One Nation Under Therapy; PC, MD
and
regular Op-Ed contributor to The Wall Street Journal and The New
York Times.
"This remarkable book presents a revolutionary and
counter-intuitive theory of anxiety and depression. This theory
reflects the author's careful clinical observations over decades of
outstanding individual psychiatric care, and from his vital work in
dealing with 'the wounded workplace.' This landmark book is a must
read for everyone interested in mental health, evolution - or in
humankind." -- Richard K. Harding, MD, Past-President, American
Psychiatric
Association, Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science at
the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
"Kahn is a highly experienced clinician and researcher, and he
offers some of the soundest, most up-to-date advice available about
the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness." -- Peter D. Kramer,
MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown
University and author of Listening to Prozac and Against
Depression.
"Jeffrey Kahn offers a novel and comprehensive evolutionary theory
on the adaptive value of anxiety and depressive disorders. His
insight into the social instincts in animal herds is compelling and
is nicely integrated with psychiatric research and clinical
observations. This is an outstanding book for the inquisitive
reader, and a milestone in translating evolutionary theory into a
new understanding of common psychiatric illnesses." -- Eric
Hollander, MD,
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of
Medicine, author of Textbook of Autism Spectrum Disorders, Textbook
of Anxiety Disorders, and Coping with Social Anxiety Disorder,
and
International Expert on Psychiatric Diagnosis and
Neuropsychopharmacology
"Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, a practicing psychiatrist for 30 years, provides
a unique insight into the causes of modern day angst." -- David
Olle, New York Journal of Books
"This is an interesting book by an author with a wealth of clinical
and research
experience. He has done a very thorough job on the research behind
his theories
and expresses them clearly and succinctly. I would recommend the
book." -- Brett C. Plyler, M.D., Northwestern Memorial Hospital,
Doody's
"Although this book is written in the style of popular science, it
is, in fact, an innovative and scholarly work that deserves to be
studied by mental health specialists. ... [T]his book makes a
powerful case for a scientific approach to psychiatry firmly based
within the framework of evolutionary theory." --The British Journal
of Psychiatry
"It offers new models that can be used in psychiatry research,
instead of the old fashioned nosographic constructs of mental
disorders." -- Asociacao Brasileira de Psiquiatria
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