A Mood Apart

February 2, 1997
Seldom has the inner emotional landscape of melancholic depression, mania and manic-depressive illness been mapped with so much clarity, empathy and sensitivity. Chairman of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, Whybrow draws on his experiences in treating mood disorders. He recommends a combination of psychotherapy, self-education and pharmacologic drugs to improve the emotional brain's self-regulating functions. According to his theory, grief, severe stress, genetic predisposition, distorted childhood attachments and weak social support networks may interact to disrupt the brain's system of "emotional homeostasis," which promotes the individual's equilibrium within his or her ever-changing circumstances; the result is a debilitating mood disorder. Whybrow weaves observations on shyness, temperament, suicide, the melatonin fad, brain research and seasonal effects on mood into a series of open-ended, exploratory case histories that comprise the book's core. Including an appendix listing common medications with dose ranges and side effects, his illuminating study will be useful to those who suffer from mood disorders and people close to them.

March 1, 1997
Psychiatrist Whybrow examines mania and depression generally but thoroughly, describing several individual cases to bring the generalities to life. Although many patients can have a specific disease, each individual's symptoms, developments, and responses are unique; that, it becomes obvious, is one reason why psychiatry appeals to Whybrow. Drawing on both the medical literature and works of fine literature, the author guides us through the evolutionary growth of both the so-called lizard, ancient mammal and the new mammal brains within the human brain, then examines areas of behavior, types of diseases, precipitating causes of disease, and treatments. Most mental diseases require both psychotherapy and drugs, he says. Probably several genetic variations, rather than just one, will be found to be the physiological causes that, together with experiential difficulties, produce these diseases. ((Reviewed March 1, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)