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Psychopharmacology: Drugs, the Brain, and Behavior . Second Edition. By

Jerrold S. Meyer and Linda F. Quenzer . Sunderland (Massachusetts): Sinauer
Associates. $109.95. xxii + 722...

Article  in  The Quarterly Review of Biology · June 2015

DOI: 10.1086/681484

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Book Review for Quarterly Journal of Biology

Psychopharmacology: Drugs, the Brain, and Behavior, Second Edition by Jerrold

S. Meyer , Linda F. Quenzer Sinauer Associates Inc., Publishers Sunderland. MA. 722

pages $104. ISBN-13: 978-0878935109

The largest online book seller lists 3752 titles in “medical psychopharmacology”

and this text book is currently listed as the top seller among them. Although not ex-

plicitly targeted, the depth and breadth of the topics covered would suggest that the

book is mainly for college undergraduates with little or no prior exposure to neuro-

science or psychology. The large formatted and lengthy ( 722 pages) text must be a

favorite for instructors who have the same minimal experience in the neurosciences,

with a wealth of online tools at a dedicated web site that replaces a CD version that

came with the first edition. Students can also benefit from the outlines and summary

of chapters at the online site together with video explanations of some of the ad-

vanced topics like the synthesis and breakdown of neurotransmitters and simplified

versions of their pharmacology. For some chapters there are expanded text boxes for

discussion of what the authors refer to as advanced topics. Instructors will also benefit

from the same resource offering examination questions for each of the chapters of

the book.

In their second addition, Meyer and Quenzer have added two new chapters that

makes the book broader than psychopharmacology and in fact puts them squarely in

the field of neuropsychopharmacology. One of the new chapters covers the major

neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Hunting-

ton's disease and the second new chapter focuses on neurotoxins which broadens

the coverage of the inhalants already described in their chapter on addictive sub-

stances.
 There is much to admire in the very detailed coverage of the mammalian nervous

systems and the drugs that alter behavior of normal individuals and those with dis-

eases of emotion, cognition, and substance abuse. The diagrams are plentiful, de-

tailed, and the captions insightful without complicating the multiple complex issues

raised in the field. The text is so detailed and so inclusive that the sheer weight of the

book makes it difficult to read comfortably without a supporting desk, and would

strikingly benefit from a digital reader version.

That said, the students who make it through this course will certainly have digest-

ed a wealth of factual information but will have missed at least two major incentives to

want to learn more than even this very detailed text offers: There is no sense of the

discovery process that has made this general field so extremely attractive to the scien-

tists who uncovered these details and how they went about it. In addition, some of the

text boxes of so-called advanced topics that are presented as factual statements are

really quite controversial and far from settled. Why is deep brain stimulation raised as

a treatment for depression but not even mentioned under Parkinson’s Disease for

which it was just recognized with a Lasker Award? Does intranasal oxytocin really im-

prove the mental dysfunctions of patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder? How does

intranasal administration of this neuropeptide permeate the blood brain barrier and

where in the brain does it produce this alleged therapeutic benefit? Is an anti-amyloid

immune approach still a viable treatment concept for Alzheimers Disease? By not

delving into the cellular and molecular explanation for “Functional Connectivity

MRI” (fcMRI) the students will have missed one of the important cellular communica-

tion exchanges between astrocytes and neurons. Each of these important research

stories could provide ideal fodder for class discussions if the students and their in-

structors would choose to rise to the occasion.

 Floyd E Bloom,MD

Professor Emeritus

The Scripps Research Institute

La Jolla, CA 92037

TEL 858 784 9730

fbloom@scripps.edu

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