The Neuropsychiatry of Limbic and Subcortical Disorders

Limbic and subcortical brain regions mediate fundamental functions such as memory, emotion, motivation, and mood. Limbic and subcortical systems also play a key neurobiological role in other important aspects of human experience, such as substance abuse, reward systems, and religious experience. Most neuropsychiatric disorders involve dysfunction of subcortical structures or the limbic or paralimbic cortex. Dysfunction of temporolimbic systems produces some of the most dramatic and challenging syndromes in clinical medicine. A valuable contribution to the literature on limbic-subcortical systems and neuropsychiatric illness, The Neuropsychiatry of Limbic and Subcortical Disorders presents an overview of functional limbic anatomy and provides a state-of-the-art report on limbic-related syndromes. Part 1 covers the functional neuroanatomy of limbic and subcortical systems. This emphasis on neuroanatomy provides a foundation for Part 2, which focuses on the limbic system and clinical neuropsychiatric syndromes. Throughout this volume, extensive literature reviews serve as comprehensive reference sources. Many chapters include color illustrations to depict key points. The contributors are a diverse group of leading investigators with special expertise in the functional aspects of limbic and subcortical anatomy and its relationship to neuropsychiatric illness. The Neuropsychiatry of Limbic and Subcortical Disorders covers a broad range of basic and clinical material at various levels of difficulty. Thus, medical students, psychiatry and neurology residents, psychology trainees, and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in the basic and clinical neurosciences will find this collection beneficial. Experienced clinicians and researchers in these fields will also benefit from the in-depth material that may even encourage a second read.