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...

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 befasste, die in den sich rasch entwickelnden Neurowissenschaften und der Neuromedizin eine Rolle spielen und schon jetzt in die offentliche Diskussion eingetreten sind. Nach einer eingehenden Darstellung der molekularen Biologie, der Struktur und Funktion neuronaler Signalubertragungsprozesse sowie der Prinzipien neuronaler Netzwerke werden Probleme neurogenetischer Krankheiten, der Intensivmedizin und der...

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...