Psychiatry

Library Journal

This remarkable two-volume reference appears in an updated edition only six years after it first appeared to much acclaim. Adding about 500 pages, 20 chapters, and extensive revisions, it emphasizes "how the cultural and ethnic background of our patients influences human development, disease expression and the nature of the doctor-patient relationship" and "diagnostic and treatment variations around the world." The DSM-IV is the basis for nosology; George Engel's biopsychosocial model integrates the whole production, as befits a medical specialty that demands expertise in body, mind, family, and culture. Editors Tasman (chair, psychiatry & behavioral sciences, Univ. of Louisville Sch. of Medicine), Jeffrey A. Lieberman (Thad & Alice Eure Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, & Radiology, Univ. of North Carolina Sch. of Medicine), and Jerald Kay (chair, psychiatry, Wright State Univ. Sch. of Medicine) oversee about 117 chapters by about as many contributors. Covered is the entire field of psychiatry, from psychoanalysis to pharmacology and brain imaging, including family relations, cultural influence and change, epidemiology, genetics, and behavioral medicine. A whole section of six chapters takes up human development, including "Risk and Protective Factors" at each stage of life. Missing are entries for contraception or abortion ("prenatal issues" does not suffice). Chapters on behavioral medicine, hypnosis, short-term psychotherapy, public health, homelessness, palliative care, and physician-patient relationship balance the more technical material on diagnosis, pharmacology, neuroscience, and research. The index (included in both volumes) is somewhat skimpy, e.g., medications are only listed by chemical, not brand name; prevention is omitted, though it is mentioned under various medical conditions and under "suicide." Lay readers will find the material relatively accessible, especially as the clear writing is enhanced by clinical vignettes, tables, and charts. The detailed table of contents (included in both volumes) compensates for the rather selective index. Bibliographies follow individual chapters. Weighing in at ten pounds a piece (that's $22.25 per pound), these volumes amount to excellent brain food, attractively presented and digestible in normal portions. The books should help draw more medical graduates toward a specialty that has suffered in recent decades from low recruitment; it will also serve other physicians, psychologists, nurses, and social workers. With a shelf life of six years, it is a good investment for larger libraries and an essential reference for medical and psychological collections, equaling or surpassing comparable texts. [Our reviewer is of no relation to editor Jeffrey A. Lieberman.-Ed.]-E. James Lieberman, George Washington Univ. Sch. of Medicine, Washington, DC Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.