Review "Bullmore takes us through the exciting journey of immuno-psychiatry. He serves as an excellent guide... A tour de force not only because the book makes available to the layman what we have learned on the interactions between the immune system and the brain during the past two decades, but also because it puts it in perspective of the radical divide that unfortunately still separates psychiatry from other branches of medicine."―Robert Dantzer, BRAIN: A Journal of Neurology "A rousing, straight-from-the shoulder call for a new approach to treating depression...Impressive and valuable... aimed at the general public, [The Inflamed Mind is] highly readable, and more than a little provocative."―Kirkus Reviews "[A] targeted, readable primer... [and] a well-informed and cogently argued brief for funding and more investigation in the field."―Publishers Weekly “The Inflamed Mind is not only a dramatic breakthrough in our understanding of depression. It is an extraordinary exploration of what it is to be human.”―Matthew d’Ancona, author of Post Truth“The Inflamed Mind confronts the reader with the converging revolutions in neuroscience and immunology that give rise to a new perspective about depression and its treatment. It traces the roots of dualism,the tendency to view mind dissociated from body, and then calls for moving beyond dualism in order to understand how inflammation in the body affects brain and mind. In an erudite, enjoyable, and accessible way, Professor Bullmore conveys the profound impact of this new perspective by helping us to appreciate the links between traditional ‘medical’ and ‘psychiatric’ syndromes and it identifies new anti-inflammatory treatments that may cross the boundary from general medicine to psychiatry.”―John H. Krystal, M.D., Robert L. McNeil, Jr., professor of translational research; chair, department of psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine"Ed Bullmore provides a clearly written and compelling argument for the importance of the immune system and inflammation in depression. This lively book explains a major frontier in clinical neuroscience that is not only influencing research on depression, but also on schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease."―Steven E. Hyman, Harvard University“Here is a narrative that tells of exciting new approaches to reducing mental illness while capturing the essence of a powerful strand in fundamental brain science. Even better: it is easy to read without overly simplifying its subject.”―Sir Philip Campbell, Editor-in-Chief, Nature“An important book, a hopeful book, for anyone who wants to think about depression in a new way.”―Tom Insel, MD, cofounder and president of Mindstrong Health“As one of the first people to brand themselves as animmunopsychiatrist, Professor Bullmore has led us out of the dark ages and shone the light on the crucial link between systemic inflammation and mental illness. This set of insights is creating a paradigm shift in psychiatry which heralds a new field of personalized psychiatry in the same way that we are seeing personalized therapy in chancer.”―Sir Robert Lechler, president of the Academy of Medical Sciences“A compelling and highly readable argument that some forms of mental illness are really diseases of the immune system. If Bullmore is right, psychiatry is on the brink of a revolution―the reunion of body and mind.”―Sir Colin Blakemore, Professor of Neuroscience & Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London“Suddenly an expert who wants to stop and question everything we thought we knew…This is a lesson in the workings of the brain far too important to ignore."―Jeremy Vine, BBC Read more About the Author Professor Edward Bullmore, MB, PhD, FRCP, FRCPsych, FMedSci, trained in medicine at the University of Oxford and then at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. After working as a physician in London and at the University of Hong Kong, he trained as a psychiatrist at St George's Hospital and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley hospitals in London, and as a clinical scientist at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. He has been a professor of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge since 1999 and is head of the Department of Psychiatry and director of Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences. Since 2005, he has also worked part-time at GlaxoSmithKline and is leading an academic-industrial partnership for the development of new anti-inflammatory drugs for depression. He is a word expert in neuroscience and mental health. Read more
B**N
Interesting but not insightful
Ok - in summary he posts the very likely thesis that depression is the result of inflammatory conditions that impact brain tissue and chemistry. He fails completely to suggest the most likely causes of the problem and solutions. So an interesting historical diatribe with no useful insights or take homes.
D**R
A great story of unity
I've followed Ed Bullmore's work on network neuroscience for several years. This little book is a splendid description of Cartesian duality of medicine and psychiatry/psychology and the growing awareness of the (complex) unity of the human condition. An excellent, mid-depth look at the integrated systems that underlie our biology and psychology, with a targeted examination (and enlightenment) of neuro-immunology. Clearly a five-star read. If I were still teaching at university I'd make it required reading in my cognition, psychopathology, and neuroscience courses.
D**Y
Postcards from the Edge
Depression is a systemic illness. That much has been clear for several decades, although it was sometimes forgotten during the years when the monoamine hypotheses of depression ruled supreme. The basic premise of this book — that some people with depression are suffering from an immune-mediated inflammatory condition — is not new. There have been sporadic reports of laboratory abnormalities for almost a century and the extraordinarily high rates of physical illness in people with depression have also been known for decades. After all, many of us have experienced transient depressive and cognitive symptoms when we are sick, and it has been known for years that some illnesses, such as hepatitis B, are more likely to engender depression than others.Many internists who would simply say, “Well of course he’s depressed, he’s sick,” while many therapists would say, “Well of course she’s sick, she’s depressed.” Both positions may contain a germ of truth, but there is more than that going on here.Depending upon the data that you look at, we now think that specific kinds of inflammation are present in anywhere from 30-60% of people diagnosed with major depressive disorder. The reason for this book is to publicize the fact and to begin to sketch out some potential practical strategies. For example which patients may benefit from anti-inflammatory approaches. There are already two dozen studies on using anti-inflammatory medications to help in the treatment of depression, as well as several attempted non-pharmacological approaches to reduce inflammation in people with major depressive disorder. The results are promising but far from conclusive. So we need to know more about how to modulate the inflammation in those people who have it. Is it likely that the reason why some people are helped by diet, exercise, meditation and sleep, is because these are all strategies that may reduce inflammation? Do some psychotherapies work by training people to control the body’s inflammatory responses?It is important to recognize that neurotransmitters have not gone away. I heard someone misquote the author of this book, saying, “Depression is caused by a depressed immune system, not chemical imbalances in the brain”. That’s not what he is saying. He is saying that inflammation is likely a key player in causing chemical and neural imbalances and also the physical complications in a large proportion of people with major depressive disorder.Where does the inflammation come from? That is a huge question, much of which the author discusses, and some of which has continued to be unraveled since this book went to press. But in general it is stress: physical, emotional, traumatic, social, environmental, even changes within the microbiome. And there is a two-way street between the body and the mind. What we now refer to as the “Bi-directional brain.”The author has been known for many years for his work in brain imaging and delineating neural network. He is something of a late convert to the immune/depression concept. But now he is becoming an ardent spokesman for it.Why put these ideas into a book? People rarely read online articles that are more than 1,000 words and some experts say that 500 is the recommended length. The obvious consequence is that most of the time we have to make do with single bullet points without any of the supporting arguments. Yet it’s those supporting arguments that allow clinicians and researchers to move the ball up the field.Bullmore writes very well. As an example, he says, “Someone with a deprived or abused childhood, whose macrophage army is already on yellow alert after exposure to such early and severe social stress might have a more inflamed and depressed reaction to hostile gut bacteria in the microbiome many years later”.What this book does is to present the information in a refreshing and coherent way, in the hope that the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry will do more to explore this newly rediscovered frontier.Highly recommended.
B**L
Thought provoking look at the emerging science of Neuro-immunology
Fascinating connections between the immune system and the mind can perhaps lead to new treatments for both . The divide between Psychiatry and Internal Medicine might be keeping treatment for chronic depression in the dark ages.
A**R
Easy to read and incredibly interesting
Provides information in a very readable manner and includes illustrations to help explain. Lots of citations, organized in an easy-to-navigate manner. The topic itself is incredibly interesting and enlightening. If you are a student of psychology or a medically related field, or even if you're just curious but have no prior reading experience in the subject, this book is a must-read.
J**M
I really liked the history about how the drugs for mental illness ...
A very thought provoking book. I really liked the history about how the drugs for mental illness came about and how the research has stalled. I will follow this space closely to see his the author's thinking about this area finds more footing to help people with mental illness.
L**A
Youmight want to know details because it is very detailed.
Pretty technical. Believable but a hard read.
P**G
Thank you Gojiman! Incredible read!
This has become one of the most influential books on how I view the world. Touching on psychology, evolution, Descartes, and the nature of belief, it offers truly thought provoking material. It was recommend by Gojiman on YouTube, and I am so glad he shared it!
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