The Self in Neuroscience and Psychiatry

In recent years the clinical and cognitive sciences and neuroscience have contributed important insights to understanding the self. The neuroscientific study of the self and self-consciousness is in its infancy in terms of established models, available data and even vocabulary. However, there are neuropsychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia, in which the self becomes disordered and this aspect can be studied against healthy controls through experiment, building cognitive models of how the mind works, and imaging brain states. In this, the first book to address the scientific contribution to an understanding of the self, an eminent, international team focuses on current models of self-consciousness from the neurosciences and psychiatry. These are set against introductory essays describing the philosophical, historical and psychological approaches, making this a uniquely inclusive overview. It will appeal to a wide audience of scientists, clinicians and scholars concerned with the phenomenology and psychopathology of the self.

Author Biography

Prof. A. David, Section of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF. Anthony David was born14.1.1965. 1985-1992 studies in medicine, philosophy, literature at the University of Munich, Germany and University of Washington, Seattle, USA. 1992-1994 Training Psychiatrist, Dept. Psychiatry, University of Munich, Germany. 1994-current Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Tubingen, Germany. 1997-2000 Researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK 2000-2001 Dept. of Neurology, Univ. of Tubingen, Germany. book: Neuronale Korrelate von Sprachproduktion und -verstandnis bei Gesunden und Patienten mit Schizophrenie, Steinkopf Verlag (forthcoming) publications in leading journals on functional brain imaging, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s dementia, geriatric medicine, history of psychiatry, relaxation techniques.