ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we examine how nervous system dysfunction causes neuro logical and psychiatric disorders. Brain disorders are greater causes of disability than any other class of diseases in our modern society. An important and obvious goal of studying brain disorders is to identify therapeutic strategies that will decrease disability and alleviate human suering. In addition, research that focuses on specic diseases oers unique perspectives on normal brain development and function in the same way that studying genetic mutants can reveal the normal function of genes and the biological processes they control. Conversely, some of the most important progress made in understanding brain disorders has come from basic research seemingly unrelated to disease, as numerous disease examples introduced in previous chapters have shown. us, basic and diseasefocused investi gations mutually enhance each other to help us understand the function and dysfunction of the nervous system. While focusing on specic brain disorders, this chapter also seeks to integrate and extend the knowledge and principles presented in all previous chapters.
