Waking and the Reticular Activating System in Health and Disease provides a comprehensive overview on the "activating" properties of the RAS. In health, the RAS provides the basis against which we assess the external world, and in disease it distorts that world and shatters our self-image. This book describes the physiology of each process, how it is disturbed in each disorder, and what the most appropriate treatment should be.

Dr. Garcia-Rill discusses the understanding of the RAS as a system not only modulating waking, but also in charge of survival mechanisms such as fight vs flight responses and reflexes. The full spectrum of these functions helps explain the complexity of symptoms evident in such disorders as disparate as schizophrenia and Parkinson s disease. The purpose is to develop an understanding of this homeostatic mechanism that has synergistic action with other mechanisms such as appetite. The author addresses the mechanisms that control waking and arousal, and especially how those mechanisms malfunction in certain neurological and psychiatric disorders.

First comprehensive overview on Waking and the Reticular Activating System in Health and Disease

Offers a new way of thinking about brain function and the role of the RAS in our waking lives

Written by a leading translational neuroscience researcher"

Arousal in Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases focuses on the dysregulation of arousal found in many neurological and psychiatric disorders. Chapters describe the physiology of each process, how it presents in each disorder, and the most appropriate treatment(s). The book also imparts the understanding of the RAS as a system that not only modulates waking, but also survival mechanisms, such as fight vs. flight responses and other reflexes. This book helps neuroscientists, sleep researchers, neurologists and psychiatrists understand the basic mechanisms that modulate arousal in health and disease. In addition, it promotes therapies that can alter the severity and manifestation of multiple disorders.