Overview
The new edition of this critically praised text continues to provide the most comprehensive overview of the concepts, methods, and research advances in the field. It has been revised and enhanced to capitalize on the strengths of the first edition while keeping it up-to-date in the field of psychiatry. This comprehensive publication now includes new chapters on child psychiatry, community studies, and perinatal studies.
The book contains black-and-white illustrations.
Synopsis
Psychiatric epidemiology is the study of the incidence, prevalence, outcome, and response to intervention of psychiatric disorders in terms of environmental, biological, and demographic factors. A primary goal of the discipline is to discover the cause and pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. The Second Edition of Textbook in Psychiatric Epidemiology will continue to be the only comprehensive overview of the concepts, methods, and research advances in the field.
Completely revised based on the enormous advances since publication of the first edition, the Textbook now includes new chapters on child psychiatry, community studies, and perinatal studies. Requiring no formal clinical training or extensive knowledge of quantitative research methods, it is still the only rigorous introduction to psychiatric epidemiology available. The Second Edition:
* Provides an overview of basic research strategies and analytic methods in psychiatric epidemiology
* Includes discussions on assessment and diagnosis as well as epidemiologic evidence for major psychiatric disorders
* Covers research strategies for studying genetic and environmental risk factors
* Is logically divided into three main sections on study designs and methods, assessment, and epidemiology of major psychiatric disorders
Chapter topics include research designs, analysis of categorized data, assessing reliability and validity, and selection of the right diagnostic instrument. Researchers, instructors, medical school students, and psychiatric residents, as well as graduate students in epidemiology, psychology, and allied mental health disciplines, will find the Second Edition a vital resource.
Shirley Hartlage
This book provides an introduction to current research methods and findings in the field of psychiatric epidemiology. After a historical overview, main sections include research methods in epidemiology, basic topics in assessment, and the epidemiology of major adult psychiatric disorders. The purpose is to provide a comprehensive yet understandable overview of methods and substantive information in psychiatric epidemiology. This is an important objective because no single textbook encompasses the field, is written on an appropriate level for graduate students, and focuses on psychiatry. The book largely meets this purpose. The book is written primarily for students planning to become researchers in psychiatric epidemiology and biostatistics and for psychiatric residents and junior faculty of teaching hospitals who seek knowledge about psychiatric epidemiology and research design. It should also be useful to investigators wanting an introduction to topics in psychiatric epidemiology and to those who desire summary information on rates of common psychiatric disorders. Authors include many top investigators in the field today. The book contains ample tables and figures summarizing results of epidemiologic studies and even providing computer commands for data analyses along with sample output. The references are current and relevant. The index generally makes information easy to locate, although there are are occasional omissions. Overall, the book has an appealing appearance. A brief appendix of genetic and statistical terms is helpful, but limited. This is an excellent book. It should be useful as a textbook and also as a reference book providing an introduction and overview of topics inpsychiatric epidemiology to those unfamiliar with the field. It is written by prominent authors and contains up-to-date information presented clearly and directly. I highly recommend it for purchase to meet the stated objectives.
Editorials
From The Critics
Reviewer: Howard M. Kravitz, DO, MPH(Rush University Medical Center)Description: This is a comprehensive overview of concepts, methods, and research advances in psychiatric epidemiology. Originally written as a textbook for students in the Harvard Program in Psychiatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics, this revised and expanded 2nd edition remains a major resource in the field.
Purpose: The editors' objective is "to provide a comprehensive, easy to understand overview of research methods for the nonrnethodologist;" this describes parts I and 11. Parts III and IV consist of 10 chapters covering the epidemiology of major psychiatric disorders as well as geriatric and child/adolescent psychiatric epidemiology. The authors have masterfully synthesized a voluminous literature into a set of lively and informative narratives that reveal at once the importance of psychiatric epidemiology and its role in understanding cause and pathogenesis and in studying interventions. We should expect nothing less — each member of the book's "distinguished faculty," as the editors refer to their contributors, is both a leading educator and a researcher in the field.
Audience: The editors' targeted audience is students of psychiatric epidemiology, psychiatric residents, general psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals. To this list, I would add students in graduate programs in public health. This book will provide its readers with a broad perspective of the field and help them understand why it is an intrinsically important component of public health.
Features: The book consists of four parts. The first two, study designs and methods (Part I) and assessment (Part II), focus on epidemiologic methods pertinent to psychiatric epidemiology. The second two parts, as mentioned above, are devoted to clinical entities (Part III) and special populations (Part IV). Three chapters have been removed from this edition (historical overview; ECA background and summary of findings; comorbidity). Added are chapters on pharmacoepidemiology, developmental epidemiology, the future of psychiatric epidemiology, the National Comorbidity Survey, first-onset mania, and child mental disorders. Other chapters have been revised and updated, some extensively and others cosmetically. Figures and tables enhance the narrative text. An appendix at the end of the chapter on psychiatric genetics provides an essential glossary of terms.
Assessment: This book remains in a class by itself. No other book in the field addresses the subject matter as completely and directly. Now four chapters and 250 pages longer, the book introduces the reader to the richness of the field — a richness in both developing methodologic rigor and accumulating strength of data. For anyone who wishes to acquaint him/herself with the methods and findings in psychiatric epidemiology, this is the place to start — with the newly revised second edition.
Shirley Hartlage
This book provides an introduction to current research methods and findings in the field of psychiatric epidemiology. After a historical overview, main sections include research methods in epidemiology, basic topics in assessment, and the epidemiology of major adult psychiatric disorders. The purpose is to provide a comprehensive yet understandable overview of methods and substantive information in psychiatric epidemiology. This is an important objective because no single textbook encompasses the field, is written on an appropriate level for graduate students, and focuses on psychiatry. The book largely meets this purpose. The book is written primarily for students planning to become researchers in psychiatric epidemiology and biostatistics and for psychiatric residents and junior faculty of teaching hospitals who seek knowledge about psychiatric epidemiology and research design. It should also be useful to investigators wanting an introduction to topics in psychiatric epidemiology and to those who desire summary information on rates of common psychiatric disorders. Authors include many top investigators in the field today. The book contains ample tables and figures summarizing results of epidemiologic studies and even providing computer commands for data analyses along with sample output. The references are current and relevant. The index generally makes information easy to locate, although there are are occasional omissions. Overall, the book has an appealing appearance. A brief appendix of genetic and statistical terms is helpful, but limited. This is an excellent book. It should be useful as a textbook and also as a reference book providing an introduction and overview of topics inpsychiatric epidemiology to those unfamiliar with the field. It is written by prominent authors and contains up-to-date information presented clearly and directly. I highly recommend it for purchase to meet the stated objectives.From The Critics
This textbook provides an overview of the concepts, methods, and research advances in the field of psychiatric epidemiology. It outlines basic research strategies and analytic methods, discusses assessment and diagnosis, and describes the epidemiological evidence for major psychiatric disorders. The book assumes no formal clinical training or extensive knowledge of quantitative research methods. Contributors include researchers from the United States and Europe. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, ORBooknews
An overview of the field for graduate and medical students in psychiatry, psychology, and allied mental health disciplines. Topics include: research designs, analysis of categorized data, assessing reliability and validity, selecting the right diagnostic instrument, DSM-IV and its role in epidemiology, and the epidemiology of many disorders including psychosis, bipolar disorder, and substance abuse. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)5 Stars! from Doody