Psychiatry All books

Alain Ehrenberg
Tired of Yourself Depression and Society
Examining the changes that have occurred since the 19th century in both psychiatry and society at large, this book shows how the internal collapse that is depression is the ultimate symbol of our culture of powerlessness. The depressed person cannot rise above the demands imposed on him or that he imposes on himself. He has no recourse but fatigue, inhibition, and indecision. But what does it mean to learn to be oneself? Is our society merely creating huge numbers of hypochondriacs? Can we any longer draw a line between the small unhappinesses and frustrations of daily life, and pathological suffering? Alain Ehrenberg is a sociologist.

François Ansermet, Pierre Magistretti
To Each His Own Brain Biology of the Unconscious
This book is the result of the coming together of psychoanalysis and neuroscience around the shared observation that experience leaves a mark. Although the idea that experience produces psychic imprints - whether conscious or unconscious - has always been central to psychoanalysis, it was not until recently that findings in neurobiology demonstrated that neuronal plasticity existed and that it operated throughout a person's life. This constant remodelling in relation to experience poses certain basic questions about each individual's identity and future. How does psychic life emerge from experience and from what it imprints? What are the respective contributions of external stimuli (the reality behind experience) and of internal stimuli (the imprinted marks)? How do the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity participate in the establishment of an unconscious internal reality? What is the role of the body in this new dynamic organisation? This book provides the foundations for a better understanding of the relations between neuroscience and psychoanalysis and offers an original theory of the unconscious, by combining recent findings in neurobiology with the basic principles of psychoanalysis. Eschewing genetic determinism, it shows that each individual is different and each brain unique. Pierre Magistretti, a physician and neurobiologist, is a professor of physiology and director of the Centre for Psychiatric Neuroscience at the University of Lausanne's medical school. In addition, he is the president of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies. François Ansermet is a psychoanalyst and professor of child and adolescent psychology at the University of Lausanne. He is the co-author, with O. Halfon and B. Pierrehumbert, of Filiations psychiques (Presses Universitaires de France, 2000).

Bruno Fallisard
Treating Children’s Psychological Suffering
According to a study by the World Health Organization, for children aged 5 to 14, mental illnesses have the greatest impact on their health.

Sylvie Geismar-Wieviorka
Treating drug users From cold turkey to shooting galleries
A front-line doctor explains how to treat drug addicts

Édouard Zarifian
The True Paradises in Your Head
Nowadays, we are not entitled to be sad without being told: this is a disease . Consequences: instead of receiving love and friendship, the distressed person receives a medicine which deepens his solitude. Édouard Zarifian, a well-know psychiatrist, argues against the abuse of psychotropes in prescriptions and warns us against a society ready to normalize emotions.

Marie-Christine Hardy-Baylé, Christine Bronnec
What are the Limits of Psychiatry ?
On the one hand, an ever increasing demand, on the other, widespread agreement that the profession in is the grip of a crisis. The result is that the supply is badly equipped to deal with the demand. What are the origins of this crisis ? Does it run as deep as the very foundations and identity of psychiatry itself ? In particular, what can be done to transform this natural diversity into a real strength ? Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Marie-Christine Hardy-Baylé works at the André-Mignot hospital, and is a professor of medicine at the University of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. She heads the Association for the Promotion of Public Health of Yvelines Sud. A hospital director, Christine Bronnec, is in charge of the ANEAS project to evaluate psychiatric needs, and is co-president of the Association for the Promotion of Public Health of Yvelines Sud.

Philippe Jeammet
When our emotions make us mad
A rich account based upon clinical observations often conducted over a period of several years.

Édouard Zarifian
The Will to Be Cured
Here is the most anachronistic and conservative book that could be written on medicine. Here I defend an idea which is too often forgotten, even if it is at the base of all practical medicine that no treatment can be really whole if the patient, those close to him, and his doctor dont establish a special relationship based on trust. Compassion, understanding of suffering and devotion all have a place in the therapeutic relationship. How should we best care for the sick? Why heal? Its a lost word that I propose here to recover. Édouard Zarifian is a professor of psychiatry and medical psychology at the University of Caen.