Oxford Handbook of Psychiatry (Oxford Handbooks Series) by David Semple, Andrew McIntosh, Jonathan Burns, Roger Smyth, Rajan Darjee

From the Publisher

The Oxford Handbook of Psychiatry is a new book directed at medical students, doctors coming to psychiatry for the first time, psychiatric trainees, and other professionals who may have to deal with patients with psychiatric problems. It is written by a group of experienced, middle-grade psychiatrists and is designed to provide easy access to the information required by psychiatry trainees on the wards or on-call. It closely follows the familiar format of the other Oxford Handbooks, and provides coverage that is comprehensive, evidence based and practical. The content of the handbook is written in the concise, note-based style characteristic of the series, with topics confined to single pages. The book is divided into four sections: Fundamentals of Psychiatric Practice; General Adult Psychiatry; Psychiatric Subspecialties; and Useful Reference Material. Within each chapter, topics are covered in a clear logical manner. For the clinical disorders there is detailed information on the etiology, epidemiology, clinical features, common differential diagnoses, assessment/investigation, management, and prognosis. There is an in-depth coverage of psychiatric assessment, psychopathology, evidence-based practice, mental health legislation in the UK, therapeutic issues, transcultural psychiatry, and eponyms in psychiatry. The book is internally cross-referenced and has both key references to important papers and to further information resources. As well as being indexed alphabetically, it is also indexed by ICD-10/DSM-IV codes, and there is a quick index for acute presentations. This Handbook is practical and directive in style, designed to provide portable reassurance to doctorsbeginning psychiatry. There is helpful advice for the management of difficult and urgent situations, and the text is peppered with clinical observations on the practice of clinical psychiatry and guidance based upon the experience of the authors.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Michael J. Schrift, DO, MA(University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine)
Description:This is a compact, concise, yet comprehensive little book on psychiatry written and edited by British clinician/educators. The book is very useful for both trainees and practicing psychiatrists. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and it is a welcome addition to my library as well as to the field of psychiatry.
Purpose:The purpose is to provide "practical and comprehensive guidelines for treatment, helpful advice for the management of difficult and urgent situations, and in-depth coverage of psychiatric assessment, psychopathology, evidence-based practice, mental health legislation in the U.K., therapeutic issues, and transcultural psychiatry."
Audience:The target audience is mainly trainees -- residents in psychiatry training programs, but practicing clinicians would find it very useful. Although written from a British perspective, 99 percent of the book is relevant to the practice of psychiatry anywhere, including in the United States.
Features:In its 953 pages and 22 chapters, the book covers almost every topic of importance in psychiatry. It begins with an excellent chapter on thinking about psychiatry. The other chapters are also excellent and cover phenomenology, the major psychiatric syndromes, geriatric and child psychiatry, substance misuse, forensic psychiatry, liaison psychiatry, legal and ethical issues, psychotherapy, transcultural psychiatry, therapeutic issues, and difficult/urgent situations. Most of the chapters contain key tables and references. The index is essential since this is mainly areference book.
Assessment:If you could afford only one psychiatry book, this is it! The wealth of useful/practical information that this little book contains (and that could fit into your white coat pocket) is remarkable. An electronic version developed for the Pocket PC and Palm OS would be even better.

Rating

4 Stars! from Doody

Product Details

• ISBN: 0198527837
  
• ISBN-13: 9780198527831
• Format: Other Format, 953pp
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pub. Date: March 2005
• Sales Rank: 545,770
• Series: Oxford Handbooks Ser.

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents