Emergencies in Psychiatry

Emergencies in Psychiatry provides a practical and problem-orientated accessible guide for those who have to deal with psychiatric emergencies. This book contains guidance on how to assess and manage these emergencies and how to manoeuvre successfully though the practical difficulties that may arise, whilst also avoiding medical, psychiatric, and legal pitfalls. A variety of specific emergencies and emergencies in different settings are covered, such as aggression and violence, victims of abuse, emergencies related to drug addiction, people with learning disabilities, and emergencies in old age psychiatry and primary care.

Emergencies in Psychiatry provides a practical and problem-orientated accessible guide for those who have to deal with psychiatric emergencies. This book contains guidance on how to assess and manage these emergencies and how to manoeuvre successfully though the practical difficulties that may arise, whilst also avoiding medical, psychiatric, and legal pitfalls. A variety of specific emergencies and emergencies in different settings are covered, such as aggression and violence, victims of abuse, emergencies related to drug addiction, people with learning disabilities, and emergencies in old age psychiatry and primary care.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Heather Huang, MD(Rush University Medical Center)
Description:This pocket handbook on psychiatric emergencies covers purely psychiatric illness as well as issues that arise in the care of psychiatric patients (e.g. medical, obstetric, psychosocial, etc.).
Purpose:The intent is to provide readers with a "practical, portable, pocketbook guide to dealing with emergencies in psychiatry." The book aims to address issues such as safety, generating a differential diagnosis, and basic management.
Audience:Resident physicians in training are the intended audience, although any healthcare providers who care for psychiatric patients (e.g. consult psychiatrists, ER and EMS personnel, anyone in an emergency room setting) would also find this useful. The authors are consultant psychiatrists (general and forensic psychiatry).
Features:The chapters are well organized and marked by a symbol which indicates the relative urgency of a particular situation. The book comes with two cloth bookmarks that allow readers to easily mark pages. Chapters use a mix of descriptive prose, bullet points, and figures. The book comprehensively lists the many types of emergencies that may arise in the care of psychiatric patients, discusses the risk factors and demographics related to particular emergencies, and differential diagnosis. It does not, however, elaborate much beyond the simple, straightforward management of these emergencies.
Assessment:This is a useful read. Because its emphasis is not specifically on management, I would not pull it out to determine how to psychotropically manage the acute agitated patient or the withdrawing alcoholic. However, it does concisely deliver a great deal of information that one could read at a leisurely pace to learn more about psychiatric emergencies.

Professor Basant Puri is Professor in Imaging and Psychiatry at Hammersmith Hospital and the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre & Imperial College London. He is also the author of several leading psychiatric textbooks Dr Ian Treasaden is a consultant forensic psychiatrist working at the West London Mental Health NHS Trust. He is also the author of several leading psychiatric textbooks.