When Emil Kraepelin died (15. 02. 1856-07. 10. 1926), he left behind his memoirs, which were not published until today. Co-workers and col leagues from the last years of Kraepelin's life and his family knew that such an autobiography existed, but they were not sure whether these memoirs should be made public, so they remained unpublished. At a commemoration 50 years after Emil Kraepelin's death in Mu nich (1976) the descendants, who attended the festivities, agreed to the editors' suggestion to publish the "Memoirs". Through this publication we have been able to learn more about the life of a man, whose work has had a decisive and lasting effect on the entire psychiatry since the end of the last century. When one reads the memoirs, one has to admit that on ly very little is known about this great psychiatrist's personality and path through life and that this gap has by no means been filled by the publica tion of his memoirs. Perhaps this publication will encourage work on a biography, which will give us more information on Kraepelin's person ality, life and scientific work. The focal-point of Kraepelin's work lies in the classification of psy chiatric clinical syndromes, which was developed from clinical observa tions, was constantly tested empirically and was altered taking new findings and knowledge into account. However, the basis of this system has remained unchanged and valid until today.

Research and Treatment in the Psychobiology of Bulimia Nervosa 1 2 K. M. Pirke and W. Vandereycken When we were preparing this book, the main purpose was to gather the latest in sights from both basic and clinical research in bulimic disorders. The burgeoning scientific interest in eating disorders forced us to restrict the focus in such a way that attention was only paid to psychobiological aspects of (disturbed) nutrition and be havior. This implied that other important aspects, like sociocultural and familial fac tors, had to be excluded. But it turned out that even with such a restricted scope the subject was not an easy one. A review of the contributions to this volume clearly shows that our present understanding of bulimia nervosa is still very small. Reviewing the hypothalamic and especially neuroendocrine regulation of nutrient balance, Bray has emphasized the importance of the autonomic nervous system in regulating food intake and energy expenditure. The role of insulin, adrenal steroids, gonadal steroids, and growth hormone in modulating nutrient intake and storage were discussed. The studies by Jimerson et aI. , Schweiger et aI. , and Fichter et al. show that all these factors are altered in bulimic patients, indicating that the whole system of regulating food intake and storage is severely disturbed in bulimia nervosa. Evidence has been presented that neurotransmitter alterations may occur in bulimia: Jimerson et al.

The human brain occupies a unique position among the organs of the human body. With its 1010 nerve cells and the innumerable interconnections, it is the most complex living system we know. It is the prerequisite for all though~, feeling, and action and hence for the awareness of ourselves. In many religions and philosophies it was and is considered to be the seat of the immortal soul. For centuries some individuals looked upon the mentally ill with holy reverence, and others responded with shock and radical social ostracism. In the neurosciences, too, the brain is not just one organ among many. As with the genome, it is considered to be an information storage unit. But whereas the genetic information cannot be influenced by the individual carrier, the brain can learn; that is, it is capable of storing information from the life history of its carrier, and it can pass this information on. The neurosciences are an area of research that has cut across the boundaries of the classic disciplines and now includes a broad spectrum ranging from basic research to clinical medicine. These sciences have developed remarkable momentum since they have taken an interdisciplinary approach and made use of experimental techniques and concepts developed in the fields of physics, biochemistry, molecular biology, behavioral physiology, experimental psychology, and computer science.

Dieses Buch enthAlt die Kurzform ausgewAhlter Referate des internationalen Kongresses des Deutschen ParitAtischen Wohlfahrtsverbandes zum Thema "Rehabilitation in der Psychiatrie." Neben grundsAtzlichen Fragen der psychiatrischen Rehabilitation werden spezielle Aspekte wie komplexes diagnostisches und therapeutisches BedingungsgefA1/4ge, Fragen der gesellschaftlichen Akzeptanz des psychisch Kranken etc. in einer multidisziplinAren Betrachtungsweise erArtert. Dabei finden neueste Grundsatzforschungen und therapeutische AnsAtze im In- und Ausland besondere BerA1/4cksichtigung. Diese umfassende Darstellung vermittelt einen nahezu lA1/4ckenlosen Aoeberblick A1/4ber alle derzeit verfA1/4gbaren Erkenntnisse auf dem Gebiet der Wiedereingliederung psychisch Kranker.

Das Buch enthAlt die BeitrAge der Tagung "Neurowissenschaft und Ethik," die 1986 in Jakobsberg bei Bonn auf Einladung des Bundeskanzlers stattfand und sich mit den ethischen Fragen befaAte, die in den sich rasch entwickelnden Neurowissenschaften und der Neuromedizin eine Rolle spielen und schon jetzt in die Affentliche Diskussion eingetreten sind. Nach einer eingehenden Darstellung der molekularen Biologie, der Struktur und Funktion neuronaler SignalA1/4bertragungsprozesse sowie der Prinzipien neuronaler Netzwerke werden Probleme neurogenetischer Krankheiten, der Intensivmedizin und der Neurochirurgie vorgestellt. Auf dieser Grundlage werden offene ethische Fragen zu dem Problem der Erforschung und Behandlung von Nerven- und Geisteskrankheiten behandelt und in einer abschlieAenden Empfehlung formuliert.