- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.3.1 Neuroanatomy
- 2.3.2 Neurodevelopment
- 2.3.3 Neuroendocrinology
- 2.3.4 Neurotransmitters and signalling
- 2.3.5 Neuropathology
- 2.3.6 Functional positron emission tomography in psychiatry
- 2.3.7 Structural magnetic resonance imaging
- 2.3.8 Functional magnetic resonance imaging
- 2.3.9 Neuronal networks, epilepsy, and other brain dysfunctions
- 2.3.10 Psychoneuroimmunology
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Neuroanatomy
- Chapter:
- Neuroanatomy
- Author(s):
R. C. A. Pearson
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0018
The symptoms, signs, and syndromes of psychiatry, whether organic or biological psychiatric disease or not, in the main reflect alterations in functions which reside in the cerebral cortex, including the limbic lobe, and those structures and pathways closely related to the cortex. These cortical manifestations of psychiatric disease include alterations in thought, language, perception, mood, memory, motivation, personality, behaviour, and intellect. Therefore, this brief account of brain structures and pathways that are important in psychiatry will concentrate on the cerebral cortex and related structures and pathways. Readers who require a fuller account of central nervous system anatomy are referred to the many standard texts, which give a more complete coverage of the subject. Broadly speaking, neuroanatomy can be subdivided into two parts—the topographical organization of the brain and spinal cord, and the anatomical connections forming functional pathways in the central nervous system. The former is of vital importance clinically, since pathologies rarely respect the boundaries of functional systems, and knowledge of the spatial relationships of different brain structures is increasingly useful as modern imaging methods more accurately visualize detailed brain structure in vivo. However, it is the second subdivision of the subject which makes the greater contribution to understanding the biological basis of psychiatric disease, and it is this that will be at the centre of the present account.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.3.1 Neuroanatomy
- 2.3.2 Neurodevelopment
- 2.3.3 Neuroendocrinology
- 2.3.4 Neurotransmitters and signalling
- 2.3.5 Neuropathology
- 2.3.6 Functional positron emission tomography in psychiatry
- 2.3.7 Structural magnetic resonance imaging
- 2.3.8 Functional magnetic resonance imaging
- 2.3.9 Neuronal networks, epilepsy, and other brain dysfunctions
- 2.3.10 Psychoneuroimmunology
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry