Wes Burgess

Last updated

Joseph Wesley "Wes" Burgess is an American psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author who has written books on animal behavior (ethology), nonverbal communication, and human consciousness. His main contribution has been to the understanding of the mind and social relationships.

Contents

Early life and education

Burgess was born in Dumas, Texas to Wes and Dorothea Burgess. His family moved to St. Louis Missouri where he graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School and took classes at the Academy of Science, St. Louis, Washington University in St. Louis, and the Saint Louis Zoo. Burgess earned his bachelor's degree and a literary award at Purdue University; [1] he received a PhD in Zoology at North Carolina State University, and an M.D. from the University of Miami School of Medicine. Burgess completed medical internship, psychiatry residency, and chief residency at Stanford University Medical Center, winning the Northern California Psychiatric Society Research Award. [2] [3]

Career

Burgess studied social behavior with Peter Witt under a National Science Foundation grant at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, [4] and with Evelyn Shaw at the Stanford University Department of Biology. [5] Burgess was then awarded a National Science Foundation research grant at the University of California, Davis where he did neuropsychology research and taught courses in the Department of Psychology. [6] He accepted a National Science Foundation research fellowship with Jaime Villablanca to study brain and behavior and teach classes at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the UCLA School of Medicine. [7] During his residency, he led a suicide crisis hotline and student psychotherapy groups, and taught classes at Stanford University. [8] Burgess maintained a private medical practice in adult and adolescent neuropsychiatry for over 20 years in Brentwood, Los Angeles, specializing in mood disorders and personality disorders. [9] He was a consultant for the State Bar of California and the Los Angeles Superior Court, and he has been a guest on National Public Radio, television, and films. [10] [11] [12] Burgess now devotes his time to writing and private consultation in Half Moon Bay, California, where he teaches at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. [13]

Scientific contributions

Burgess was the first United States scientist to discover social spiders, [14] which he described in Scientific American and other journals. [15] [16] Social spiders challenge theories of social biology because spiders are usually cannibalistic and would not be expected to form social groups. Burgess showed how social spiders modify their environment to be able to live together. [17] [4] For example, Mexican spiders called Mallos gregalis spin a web that amplifies the sounds of the flies that they eat and dampens the vibrations made by other spiders, allowing Mallos spiders to live in colonies containing hundreds of thousands of individuals. [18] Another spider called Metepeira spinipes, spins two-part spider webs: individual orbs to catch prey, and vibration-damping tangled webs where spiders coexist peacefully. [19] [20] Burgess also described Oecobius civitas spiders who exchange individual webs with each other as part of a unique prober/retaliator social strategy (see evolutionary game theory). [21] [14]

Burgess compared the biological forces that produce social groups in shoaling and schooling fish, flocking and territorial birds, monkey colonies, and human social groups; developing techniques of pattern recognition for measuring and displaying proxemic distances between k-nearest neighbor individuals in a social group. [22]

Burgess found similar subgrouping patterns in rhesus monkey colonies in Puerto Rico, while working at the North Carolina Department of Mental Health Research. [23] These patterns change if only a few members receive psychoactive drugs. [24]

Burgess’ studies revealed how the dendrites of brain neurons grow during development. [25] [26] Together with Richard Coss at the University of California, Davis, Burgess was the first to show that sensory stimuli, including social stressors, can cause long-lasting changes in brain cell anatomical structure in just a few minutes. [27] Together with Jaime Villablanca at UCLA, Burgess discovered that early brain injury resembling childhood congenital disorders and adult traumatic brain injury can heal naturally and that rehabilitative exercise improves brain healing. [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] He helped clarify the rôle of the caudate nucleus in aggression and found that, without input from this nucleus, usually aggressive cats are friendly and affiliative. Burgess also contributed to our understanding of how the nervous system responds to morphine, [33] [34] [35] especially during early development. [36]

Medical contributions

As a psychiatrist and medical doctor, Burgess studied mental illnesses that impair social relations. He created mental health tests, including verbal and written Mental Health Diagnostic Examinations, verbal and written Cognitive Function Examinations, the Card Test Cognitive Function Examination, and the Personality Inventory Scale for diagnoses of personality disorders. [37] [38] [12] [39] He showed that the pathology of borderline personality disorder, including chronic depression and self harm, is linked to impaired neurocognition—the ability to perform normal thought processes. [8] [40] [41] [42] [2]

He has written books for individuals with bipolar disorder [43] [44] [45] [46] and major depressive disorder, [47] their caretakers, and their families; as well as books and clinical articles on DSM-5 and ICD-10 diagnosis, cognitive testing, and psychotherapy and psychopharmacology treatments for use by health professionals. [37] [12] [9]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Causes of mental disorders</span> Etiology of psychopathology

A mental disorder is an impairment of the mind disrupting normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, or social interactions, and accompanied by significant distress or dysfunction. The causes of mental disorders are very complex and vary depending on the particular disorder and the individual. Although the causes of most mental disorders are not fully understood, researchers have identified a variety of biological, psychological, and environmental factors that can contribute to the development or progression of mental disorders. Most mental disorders result in a combination of several different factors rather than just a single factor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychological pain</span> Unpleasant feeling of a psychological nature

Psychological pain, mental pain, or emotional pain is an unpleasant feeling of a psychological, non-physical origin. A pioneer in the field of suicidology, Edwin S. Shneidman, described it as "how much you hurt as a human being. It is mental suffering; mental torment." There is no shortage in the many ways psychological pain is referred to, and using a different word usually reflects an emphasis on a particular aspect of mind life. Technical terms include algopsychalia and psychalgia, but it may also be called mental pain, emotional pain, psychic pain, social pain, spiritual or soul pain, or suffering. While these clearly are not equivalent terms, one systematic comparison of theories and models of psychological pain, psychic pain, emotional pain, and suffering concluded that each describe the same profoundly unpleasant feeling. Psychological pain is widely believed to be an inescapable aspect of human existence.

Uncharted Territory is a science fiction novella by Connie Willis. Published in 1994, it follows three humans sent to explore an alien world, accompanied by a native guide, in an "archly written satire... of political correctness"

Neon Blonde was a supergroup consisting of Johnny Whitney and Mark Gajadhar from The Blood Brothers. They were based in Kirkland, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. The two expanded beyond The Blood Brothers' sound by utilizing a more electronic-based sound, which included electroclash and dance-punk. Neon Blonde's music drew from many genres including post-hardcore, and experimental rock, who have also teamed up with Blood Brothers members to create Head Wound City), and a more electroclash sound. Their music also featured rapping, and rapped vocals in an alternative hip hop style.

Monty Webber is an Australian surfer, artist, writer and filmmaker. His stories and movies address the culture of surfing.

David H. Rosenbloom is a scholar in the field of Public Administration. He is the Distinguished Professor of Public Administration at the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. An authority on issues related to administrative law and constitutional aspects of public sector personnel policies, Rosenbloom is known for his approach emphasizing understanding American public administration from the three perspectives associated with the constitutional separation of powers: law, politics and management. He advocates establishing "constitutional competence" as a basic standard for public service professionals.

The biopsychiatry controversy is a dispute over which viewpoint should predominate and form a basis of psychiatric theory and practice. The debate is a criticism of a claimed strict biological view of psychiatric thinking. Its critics include disparate groups such as the antipsychiatry movement and some academics.

Mobile telephony (cellular) has become a commonplace aspect of modern life. Mobile computing is less well established than mobile telephony, partly because of the lack of a common standard infrastructure for secure seamless mobile computing for the Internet. With the increasing number of mobile workers, a secure mobile architecture specification is needed to allow businesses and individuals to maintain secure connections when moving or mobile.

Al Koran (1914–1972), real name Edward Doe, was a British mentalist, author and inventor. He invented the Ring Flite and popularised a version of the Bagshawe deck which became known as the Koran deck.

Myles W. Jackson is currently the inaugural Albers-Schönberg Professor in the History of Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and lecturer with the rank of professor of history at Princeton University. He was the inaugural Albert Gallatin Research Excellence Professor of the History of Science at New York University-Gallatin, professor of history of the faculty of arts and science of New York University, professor of the division of medical bioethics of NYU-Langone School of Medicine, faculty affiliate of the Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy, NYU School of Law, and director of science and society of the college of arts and science at NYU. He was also the inaugural Dibner Family Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at Polytechnic Institute of New York University from 2007 to 2012. The chair is named after Bern Dibner (1897–1988), an electrical engineer, industrialist, historian of science and technology and alumnus of Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

Guided imagery is a mind-body intervention by which a trained practitioner or teacher helps a participant or patient to evoke and generate mental images that simulate or recreate the sensory perception of sights, sounds, tastes, smells, movements, and images associated with touch, such as texture, temperature, and pressure, as well as imaginative or mental content that the participant or patient experiences as defying conventional sensory categories, and that may precipitate strong emotions or feelings in the absence of the stimuli to which correlating sensory receptors are receptive.

<i>Cracks</i> (album) 2010 music album by Nabiha

Cracks is the debut album by Danish singer, songwriter and actress Nabiha. The album is in English.

Sibella Cottle was the mistress of Sir Henry Lynch-Blosse, 7th Baronet of Balla, County Mayo, Ireland.

Joseph L. Williams was a film critic for the daily St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Web site STLtoday.com in St. Louis, Missouri. He was also the author of the books Entertainment on the Net, Hollywood Myths and The Grassy Knoll Report. Williams had been a staff writer for the newspaper since 1996. From 2003 to 2006, he was the on-camera movie reviewer for St. Louis TV station KMOV. He was a frequent guest on radio and television broadcasts in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Bride Collector</span> 2010 novel by Ted Dekker

The Bride Collector is a 2010, thriller, and suspense novel written by Ted Dekker and published by Center Street. This marked Ted Dekker's eighth thriller novel.

Christopher R. Seitz is an American Old Testament scholar and theologian known for his work in biblical interpretation and theological hermeneutics. He is the senior research professor of biblical interpretation at Toronto School of Theology, Wycliffe College. He is also an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church, and served as canon theologian in the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas (2008-2015).

<i>37 Channels</i> 2013 studio album by Tantric

37 Channels is the fifth studio album by American rock band Tantric, released on September 17, 2013 via Pavement Entertainment.

<i>Homeroom Diaries</i> 2014 novel by James Patterson

Homeroom Diaries is a realistic fiction novel by James Patterson aimed at teenagers. Published in the United States by Little, Brown and Company on July 22, 2014, the book follows high-schooler Margaret Clarke, who goes by the nickname Cuckoo. When the book begins, Cuckoo is living with a foster mother after her own mother abandoned her, an incident that caused Cuckoo to have a brief stay at a mental institution.

Abdul Azim Islahi is a professor at the Islamic Economics Institute, Jeddah. He has spent more than 30 years in research, teaching and expanding the frontiers of the discipline of Islamic economics, King Abdulaziz University. He obtained his PhD from the Aligarh Muslim University, India in 1981. He is an authority on the history of Islamic economic thought.

<i>The Black Tide</i> 1982 novel by Hammond Innes

The Black Tide is a 1982 mystery thriller novel by the British writer Hammond Innes. It was first published in The United Kingdom August 23, 1982. It was published in America the following year by Doubleday.

References

  1. Lafayette Indiana Journal and Courier, April 15, 1974, pp 19–20
  2. 1 2 Burgess, J. Wesley. Cognitive information processing in borderline personality disorder: A neuropsychiatric hypothesis. Jefferson Journal of Psychiatry, vol 8, no 2, pp 34–49, 1990.
  3. The Psychology of Entomology, Entomology at Purdue Newsletter, Fall, Department of Entomology, Purdue University 2003, p 7.
  4. 1 2 Burgess, J. Wesley and Witt, Peter. Spider webs: Design and engineering. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, vol 1, pp 322–335, 1976.
  5. Burgess, J. Wesley and Shaw, Evelyn. Effects of acoustico-lateralis denervation in a facultative schooling fish: A nearest neighbor matrix analysis. Behavioral and Neural Biology, vol 33, pp 488–497, 1981.
  6. Burgess, J. Wesley, and Fordyce, Wendy K. Effects of preschool environments on nonverbal social behavior. Child Psychology and Psychiatry, vol 30, pp 261–276, 1989.
  7. Burgess, J. Wesley. Do humans exhibit "species-typical" group size? Age, sex, and environmental differences in the size and composition of natural groups. Ethology and Sociobiology, vol 4, pp 149–155, 1984.
  8. 1 2 Burgess, J. Wesley, and Zarcone, Vincent P. Cognitive Impairment in dramatic personality disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, vol 149, p 136, 1992.
  9. 1 2 Burgess, Wes. Clinical Case Conference: A monthly featured column on diagnosis and treatment. Southern California Psychiatrist, 2003–2009.
  10. "Wes Burgess | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Archived from the original on October 30, 2017. Retrieved October 29, 2017.
  11. "Depression Answer Book". www.sourcebooks.com. Archived from the original on August 27, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 Burgess, Wes. The Mental Status Examination for Personality Disorders. Volume 2 of the Mental Status Examination Series. CreateSpace, 2013.
  13. Between the Tides, June, p 4, 2017
  14. 1 2 Burgess, J. Wesley. Social Spiders. Scientific American, vol 234, pp 99–106, 1976.
  15. Burgess, J. Wesley. Social spiders. In Howard Topoff, editor, Animal Societies and Evolution. Freeman Press, San Francisco, 1981.
  16. Burgess, J. Wesley. Social behavior in group-living spider species. In Peter Merrett, editor, Arachnology. Symposia, Zoological Society of London, Number. 42. Academic Press, London, 1978.
  17. Witt, Peter N. and Burgess, J. Wesley. Spider webs: Design and engineering. Naturwissenschafteliche Rundschau, vol 31, pp 269–282, 1978.
  18. Burgess, J. Wesley. Web-signal processing for tolerance and group predation in the social spider Mallos gregalis. Animal Behavior, vol 27, pp 157–164, 1979.
  19. Burgess, J. Wesley, and Uetz, George. Social spacing strategies in spiders. In Peter N. Witt and Jerome Rovner, Editors, Spider Communication: Mechanisms and Ecological Significance. Princeton University Press, pp 317–352, 1982.
  20. Uetz, George and Burgess, J. Wesley. Habitat structure and colonial behavior in Metepeira spinipes. Psyche, vol 86, pp 79–89, 1979.
  21. Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press, 2006.
  22. Burgess, J. Wesley. Measurement of spacing behavior. Behavioral and Neural Biology, vol 26, pp 132–160, 1979.
  23. Burgess, J. Wesley. Group spacing in rhesus monkey troops: Environmental factors. Behavioral and Neural Biology, vol 30, pp 49–55, 1980.
  24. Burgess, J. Wesley, Witt, Peter N., Phoebus, E., and Weisbard, Charles. The spacing of rhesus monkey troops changes when a few members receive THC or amphetamine. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, vol 13, pp 121–124, 1980.
  25. Burgess, J. Wesley, Monachello, Mark, and McGinn, Mike. Early development of spiny neurons in fish and mouse: Morphometric measures of dendritic spine formation. Developmental Brain Research, vol 6, pp 123–129, 1982.
  26. Berard, Dale, Burgess, J. Wesley, and Coss, Richard. Plasticity of dendritic spine formation: A state-dependent developmental process. International Journal of Neuroscience, vol 12, pp 93–98, 1981.
  27. Burgess, J. Wesley, and Coss, Richard. Rapid effects of biologically relevant stimulation on tectal neurons: Changes in dendritic spine morphology after 9 minutes are retained for 24 hours. Brain Research, vol 266, pp 217–233, 1983.
  28. Burgess, J. Wesley, Villablanca, J. R., and Levine, Micheal. Recovery of function after neonatal or adult hemispherectomy: Complex functions. Behavioural Brain Research, vol 20, pp 217–230, 1986.
  29. Burgess, J. Wesley and Villablanca, J. R. Recovery of function after neonatal or adult hemispherectomy. Motor deficits: limb bias and development, paw usage, locomotion, and rehabilitative effects of exercise. Behavioural Brain Research, vol 20, pp 1–18, 1986.
  30. Villablanca, J. R., Burgess, J. Wesley, and Benedetti, Fabricio. There is less thalamic degeneration in neonatal-lesioned than in adult-lesioned cats after cerebral hemispherectomy. Brain Research, vol 368, pp 211–225, 1986.
  31. Villablanca, J. R., Burgess, J. Wesley, and Olmstead, Charles. Recovery of function after neonatal or adult hemispherectomy in cats. Time course, movement, posture and sensory tests. Behavioural Brain Research, vol 19, pp 205–226, 1986.
  32. Villablanca, J. R.; Burgess, J. Wesley; and Sonnier, B. J. Neonatal cerebral hemispherectomy: A model for post lesion reorganization of the brain. In C. Robert Almli and S. Finger, Editors, The Behavioral Biology of Early Brain Damage, Volume II. Academic Press, New York, pp 179–210, 1984.
  33. de Andres, Isabel, Villablanca, J. R., and Burgess, J. Wesley. Reassessing morphine effects in cats: Protracted effects on sleep-wakefulness and EEG. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, vol 21, pp 922–928, 1984.
  34. Harris, Cynthia, Villablanca, J. R., Burgess, J. Wesley, and de Andres, Isabel. Reassessing morphine effects in cats: Responses of intact, caudate nuclei-lesioned and hemispherectomized animals following chronic administration and precipitated withdrawal. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, vol 21, pp 929–926, 1984.
  35. Villablanca, J. R., Harris, Cynthia, Burgess, J. Wesley, and de Andres, Isabel. Reassessing morphine effects in cats: Specific neurobehavioral responses in intact and unilaterally brain-lesioned cats. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, vol 21, pp 913–921, 1984.
  36. Burgess, J. Wesley, and Villablanca, J. R. Ontogenesis of morphine-induced behavior in the cat. Journal of Brain Research, vol 1134, pp 53–61, 2007.
  37. 1 2 Burgess, Wes. The Mental Status Examination. 2nd Edition. Volume 1 of the Mental Status Examination Series. CreateSpace, 2013.
  38. Burgess, J. Wesley. Examining the mental status examination: Questions that discriminate major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and personality diagnoses. Psychiatric Services (Hospital and Community Psychiatry), vol 43 (9), pp 937–939, 1992.
  39. Burgess, J. Wesley. The personality inventory scale: A self-rating clinical scale for the diagnosis of personality disorders. Psychological Reports, vol 69, pp 1235–1246, 1991.
  40. Burgess, J. Wesley. Neurocognitive impairment in personality disorders. Psychiatry Research, vol 42, pp 283–290, 1992.
  41. Burgess, J. Wesley. The relationship of depression and cognitive impairment to self-injury. Psychiatry Research, vol 38, pp 77–87, 1991
  42. Burgess, J. Wesley. Neurocognition in acute and chronic depression. Biological Psychiatry, vol 30, pp 305–309, 1991.
  43. Burgess, Wes. The Bipolar Handbook for Children, Teens, and Families. Avery/Penguin Press, 2008.
  44. Burgess, Wes. Transtorno Bipolar. Perguntas da Vida Real com Prespostas Atualizadas. Editora Gaia, São Paulo, Brazil, 2010.
  45. Burgess, Wes. Wes Burgess. The Bipolar Handbook. Avery/Penguin Press, 2006.
  46. Burgess, Wes. Guia del Bipolar. Ediciones Robinbook, Barcelona, Spain, 2007.
  47. Burgess, Wes. The Depression Answer Book. Sourcebooks, 2009.