Nature Versus Nurture Resolved?

Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 2000, Vol 45(6), 622-624. The reviewer states that the first section of the book (see record 1999-08096-000), Paris places the predisposition-stress model into a historical context. The long dominance of environmental explanations in psychiatry is attributed to the influence of psychoanalysis. Paris, although sympathetic to Freud, points out many theoretical and empirical errors of psychoanalysis. He emphasizes how findings of behavioral genetics turned psychiatry away from believing that early experiences in the family were the origin of psychiatric illness. Paris also mentions an evolutionary approach to behavior that requires adaptive functions for traits related to psychiatric illnesses. In the second section of the book, Paris surveys the voluminous research literature on the most prevalent psychiatric disorders. The reviewer concludes that the author's breadth of knowledge is impressive; his book has one role of moving readers out of narrow specialities to look at the whole of psychiatric illnesses. The information given in the book makes it accessible to undergraduate students, the interested layperson, as well as to researchers seeking a quick overview of psychiatric illnesses. The book does not offer much that is stunningly original; it is more of a thetic effort than a generative one. Paris's evident enthusiasm for his subject matter, however, stays with the reader. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)