- xix, 388 p. : ill.
Cote : BF 575.A3 V899n 2002
Violence - Aspect physiologique ; Violence - Aspect psychologique ; Neurobiologie
In Neurobiology of Violence (the second edition of a book first published in 1995), Jan Volavka provides a comprehensive and stimulating synthesis of knowledge about the neurobiologic basis of human aggression and about the manifestations of various types of violence. Intelligently and convincingly, he presents a vast body of knowledge related to the observations that violent human behavior has analogies in animal behavior and that these analogies have important implications for planning research and prevention.
The book covers many aspects of violence, from the level of molecules -- neurotransmitters and their receptors -- to the ways in which disturbances in the central nervous system can cause aggressive and violent behavior. With meticulous scholarship, Volavka reveals how genetic factors (nature) interact with environmental factors (nurture). The extensive research cited shows, consistently and clearly, that genes and the environment continuously interact. Violence among patients with major mental disorders such as schizophrenia, severe mood disorders, and other psychoses is explained well. Volavka discusses in detail how the risk of violent behavior can be assessed and includes a simplified explanation of a complex statistical method, clarifying it for clinicians and researchers alike. His approach in a chapter on the psychopharmacologic treatment of violent behavior is balanced; he elucidates both the strengths and weaknesses of this method of treating violent patients.
I see this book as an excellent and scope-extending complement to the World Health Organization's World Report on Violence and Health (2002), which provides an account of the magnitude of violence, its social effects, and various types of preventive methods based on social, political, and ethical considerations. Both Volavka's book and the World Report on Violence and Health send clear signals about the need to incorporate genetic factors, prenatal and perinatal events, and environmental influences into research on violent behavior and into the development of practical methods to prevent it. In his discussion of protective factors, Volavka underlines the need for further research on the role of coping abilities and their connections with intelligence as well as on the roles of norms and moral precepts prevailing in various cultures and subcultures. Despite the scarcity of research in this field, I agree with Volavka's point that morality has a powerful regulatory effect on violent behavior. The present-day training of psychiatrists and behavioral scientists in the Western world results in a moral relativism that has become routine in both clinical practice and research. This attitude inhibits open discussion of the regulatory role of various kinds of norms and their influence on mental health and violent behavior. The roles of aggression and violence in self-destructive behavior are not covered in this book, yet violence and self-destructive behavior constitute a huge and a growing problem in the world -- one that has been severely underestimated, partly owing to prevailing taboos and moral judgments. Volavka's book is not only a must for researchers and clinicians in the field; it can also be recommended for educated lay readers. In highly accessible language, it combines modern biologic theories with theories about external, environmental factors. Danuta Wasserman, M.D., Ph.D.
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