Challenges in Clinical Practice

The book contains black-and-white illustrations.

Integrating pharmacologic and cognitive-behavioral perspectives in the major psychiatric disorders, this book features chapters by expert clinician-researchers who provide readers with up-to-date, practical strategies for the treatment of patients with complex psychiatric disorders, with a particular focus on the treatment-refractory patient. Specifically covering a broad range of the disorders confronted in clinical practice, the book also addresses the management of psychotropic side effects that complicate treatment.

Jeffrey S. Ross

This is the first edition of a general psychiatric text reviewing the strategies for the treatment of major mental disorders that have failed first line therapies. The purpose is to provide the mental health clinician with a comprehensive literature review of treatment options for the treatment-resistant patient. Unlike other books that focus on a specific disorder and its treatment, this book provides a unique overview of strategies for second-line treatment of the many common psychiatric disorders seen in clinical practice, and it addresses both medication and cognitive therapy options. Although not specifically stated, the intended audience includes all mental health practitioners, especially psychiatrists, who are increasingly expected to manage with proficiency the first-line treatment failure. The editors have compiled an impressive array of clinical psychopharmacology researchers, mostly Harvard-based, to author the individual chapters, and they do a superb job. The book consists of mostly text, but also includes occasional clinically useful tables, graphs, and treatment algorithms. The references appear mostly current, at least through early 1995. The table of contents and index are well organized and complete, and the appearance of the book is simple but effective. This is a very well-organized, well-written, and thoroughly researched general psychiatric textbook covering sophisticated management approaches for the first-line treatment failure. Although much of the information is highly duplicated in the many disorder-specific textbooks available, this book appears unique in compiling this clinically invaluable information into a single resource. With the advent of managedcare and demands for quicker, more robust treatment responses, even in a tertiary care population, this book can be a very worthwhile addition to a clinician's library.

Mark H. Pollack, M.D., is Director of the Anxiety Disorders Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Michael W. Otto, Ph.D. is currently the Director of the Cognitive-Behavior Therapy Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School.

Jerrold F. Rosenbaum, M.D., is Director of the Outpatient Psychiatry Division and Chief of the Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.