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A review by labyrinth_witch
The Inflamed Mind: A Radical New Approach to Depression by Edward Bullmore
3.0
An interesting theory about whether inflammation in the body causes depression, pioneered by a new group of medical professionals called immunoneurologists.
The value of the books is in the discussion of Descartes and how the mind/body divide came to be so entrenched in our worldview and the assumptions behind the worldview- namely that certain bodily chemicals couldn’t cross the barrier into the brain. New technology has revealed that, indeed, there are chemicals present that cross this divide. When Bullmore outlines it, it feel fairly absurd that we don’t consider our minds as “part of our bodies” and have set up a system where we have different doctors for the mind and the body.
The draw back to the book is that it is fairly heavy on medical and anatomical language which sometimes caused me to disconnect from the narrative. Definitely preferred listening to it on audio book as I would have struggled reading a hard copy.
Recommend to anyone who suspects there is more to their depression.
The value of the books is in the discussion of Descartes and how the mind/body divide came to be so entrenched in our worldview and the assumptions behind the worldview- namely that certain bodily chemicals couldn’t cross the barrier into the brain. New technology has revealed that, indeed, there are chemicals present that cross this divide. When Bullmore outlines it, it feel fairly absurd that we don’t consider our minds as “part of our bodies” and have set up a system where we have different doctors for the mind and the body.
The draw back to the book is that it is fairly heavy on medical and anatomical language which sometimes caused me to disconnect from the narrative. Definitely preferred listening to it on audio book as I would have struggled reading a hard copy.
Recommend to anyone who suspects there is more to their depression.