Abstract

The symptoms of schizophrenia have generated interest for more than two centuries. How are they produced? Where do they come from? In this highly stimulating book, Dr Locke proposes a new basic mechanism to account for many of the findings in schizophrenia. His ideas are based on observations and experiments at a State Psychiatric Hospital where he was the director of a Neurological Unit for ten years. He was struck by an outstanding sign of schizophrenia which had not attracted attention in the classical literature. Schizophrenia patients, he noticed, were too alert, too attentive. If this hyperawareness or widespread unfocussed attention is the result of excessive arousal, Dr Locke reasoned it would make sense to look into the vestibular system which is alleged to be one of the most effective contributions to the ascending reticular activation system. This original view of schizophrenia is attractive because it is creative, supported by a wide range of evidence and above all testable. Unbalanced: A View From the Vestibule will be of interest not only to psychiatrists, neuroscientists and mental health workers, but also to anyone interested in how the human mind works.