Angst: Origins of Anxiety and Depression
"Why does mental illness persist when it would seem to be  counterproductive in an evolutionary sense? Kahn argues that certain  traits that promote group fitness can, in a modern context and if  exaggerated, manifest as serious mental illness . . . A lively  presentation."  --Library Journal"An amazingly  insightful and timely book, Angst will make you think and rethink the  way our brains deal with anxiety and tragedy." --Siddhartha Mukherjee,  MD is a cancer physician and researcher at Columbia University. His bookThe Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancerwon the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in general non-fiction."Most  of the theorists who study mental illness through the lens of evolution  have never seen a patient themselves. This is what makes Dr. Kahn's  approach unique. Dr. Kahn refracts theory through his rich experience as  a clinician and the result is a thesis on evolutionary psychiatry that  is both conceptually rich and pragmatically valuable." --Sally Satel,  MD, Yale University psychiatry faculty, popular authorOne Nation Under Therapy; PC, MDand regular Op-Ed contributor toThe Wall Street JournalandThe New York Times."This  remarkable book presents a revolutionary and counter-intuitive theory  of anxiety and depression.   This theory reflects the author's careful  clinical observations over decades of outstanding individual psychiatric  care, and from his vital work in dealing with 'the wounded workplace.'   This landmark book is a must read for everyone interested in mental  health, evolution - or in humankind." --Richard K. Harding, MD,  Past-President, American Psychiatric Association, Professor of  Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of South  Carolina School of Medicine."Kahn is a highly  experienced clinician and researcher, and he offers some of the  soundest, most up-to-date advice available about the diagnosis and  treatment of mental illness." --Peter D. Kramer, MD, Clinical Professor  of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University and author ofListeningto ProzacandAgainst Depression."Jeffrey  Kahn offers a novel and comprehensive evolutionary theory on the  adaptive value of anxiety and depressive disorders. His insight into the  social instincts in animal herds is compelling and is nicely integrated  with psychiatric research and clinical observations. This is an  outstanding book for the inquisitive reader, and a milestone in  translating evolutionary theory into a new understanding of common  psychiatric illnesses." --Eric Hollander, MD, Clinical Professor of  Psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, author ofTextbook of Autism Spectrum Disorders, Textbook ofAnxiety Disorders, andCoping with Social Anxiety Disorder, and International Expert on Psychiatric Diagnosis and Neuropsychopharmacology"I  was intrigued by the evolutionary psychiatric explanation... make sense  when you think about them from that perspective - emotional disorders  arising from the conflict between societal instincts and our  consciousness. It definitely got me to think about these problems in a  different way, which will be useful to both me and my patients... well  written with humor and insight... 4 Stars!" -Doody's Book Review  Service