Description

This book summarises the proceedings of a symposium on "Emotions and Psychopathology" which was held by the Department of Psychology of Bowling Green State University from September 26-27, 1986. It is coming to be realized that to understand the underlying structure and dynamics of many psychopathologies, it is essential to understand the nature of emotions. The aim of this symposium was to gather a group of investigators and thinkers who would have valuable and unique perspectives on the nature of emotions and on their relationship to psychic disorders. The main participants were Manfred Clynes, Helen Block Lewis, Michael Liebowitz, Marvin Minsky, Robert Plutchik, John Paul Scott and Jaak Panksepp. Ted Melnechuk chaired the half-day of round table discussion on the day following the symposium, and Gail Zivin and Larry Stettner presented informal position statements on ethologi- during the round table. On the evening before the symposium, Elliot cal approaches Valenstein of The University of Michigan presented a pre-symposium colloquium entitled "Great and Desperate Cures" which summarized his most recent contribu- tion to the Psychosurgery debate. We should like to refer you to his excellent book on the subject, with the same title, (Basic Books,1986), which can help forewarn us of possible future worries in the application of biological technologies. Paul Byers who did not attend the meeting was invited to write a chapter summarizing cultural and societal issues which were not formally covered at the meeting.