Understanding the emotion process: The clinical neuropsychology of emotion: A review of Yana Suchy, 2011. Clinical neuropsychology of emotion

Research on emotions has seen a significant increase in the last 20 years with findings stemming from a wide range of areas. Emotion has been a topic of interest of affective neuroscientists (Adolphs, Baron-Cohen, & Tranel, 2002; Ledoux, 1996), researchers in psychopathology (Kohler, Walker, Martin, Healey, & Moberg, 2010), and clinicians (Stuss & Levine, 2002). In almost all clinical settings, the area of emotion is covered and sometimes formally assessed, but few texts and resources are available for guidance on this topic. Also, it is difficult for many clinicians to keep track of all of the different areas of research and many of the texts on clinical neuropsychology devote but a single chapter to emotion. The chapters that are available are either too dense with neuroanatomical structures or too basic to be of practical use. There is a clear paucity of texts that provide adequate and useful coverage of neuroanatomical research in emotion AND provide guidance for clinical practice. This is why the text, Clinical Neuropsychology of Emotion, by Dr. Yana Suchy, will become a welcome addition to any clinical neuropsychologist’s professional library. The book consists of 13 chapters and 3 clinically useful appendices (370 pages in total), that provide a wealth of information for clinical practitioners, researchers, and students. A comprehensive reference list is also provided. The impetus for the book was based on “the desire to take widely varied topics and levels of analysis that comprise the neuropsychology of emotion and extract from them the knowledge and techniques that are clinically relevant” (pg 2). The focus of the book is on the integration of theory and clinically useful information as it applies to emotion for practitioners of neuropsychology. The five aims for the book described are as follows: (1) “Propose clinically meaningful domains of emotional processing” (chapters 3–10). (2) “Demonstrate the clinical utility of each domain” (chapters 3–10). (3) Demonstrate that emotions and cognitions are more closely intertwined than historically thought” (chapters 3–12). (4) Explore the interdisciplinary future of the clinical neuropsychology of emotion when questions about emotional processing arise (chapters 11–12). (5) Provide an easy reference for clinical neuropsychologists (Appendices)” (p. 2). The book is organized in four parts. Part 1 is a historical review of early theories of emotion research and neuroanatomical structures involved in emotion. Part 2, the central focus of the book, breaks down the emotion process into five component parts. Part 3 focuses on the impact of emotion on mood, sensitivity to rewards and punishments, and how emotion affects stress and health. Part 4 centers on future directions for emotion research in clinical neuropsychology. Part 4 also contains 3 appendices that present information on affective deficits in clinical disorders (Appendix A), disorders and populations with selective emotion deficits (Appendix B), and a list of assessment measures used in clinical practice and research (Appendix C). These appendices allow a clinician to quickly look up a specific disorder to see what types of affective deficits and symptoms characterize the condition, which we found to be a very useful feature. Also, given that most practitioners have few tools for the assessment of emotion, having a list of validated measures is very helpful. At the chapter level, the content is organized by first presenting theoretical and conceptual material, which includes a definition of the constructs, relevant neuroanatomical structures, and how emotion interfaces with cognition. This is followed by a section on integrating theory and practice, which focuses on clinical disorders and their signs and symptoms, daily functioning, and assessment issues. Having each chapter follow the same outline