This is a manifesto for an entirely new approach to psychiatric care; one that truly offers care rather than coercion, therapy rather than medication, and a return to the common sense appreciation that distress is usually an understandable reaction to life's challenges.

The practice of psychiatry has undergone great changes in recent years. In this book, Joel Paris, MD, a veteran psychiatrist, provides a fluently written and accessible "state-of-the-field" assessment. Himself a clinician, researcher, and teacher, Paris focuses on the most striking change within the field - the diverging roles of psychopharmacology and psychotherapy in contemporary practice. Where once psychiatrists were trained in Freudian psychoanalysis - which involved, more than anything else, talking - current pressures in mental health practice, including those imposed by managed care, are leading psychiatrists to treat more and more of their patients exclusively with medication, which is cheaper and faster. At the same time, psychotherapy is increasingly not being taught to new psychiatrists-in-training, even though, as Paris reveals, there is scientific evidence that both talk therapies and medication can play an important role in the treatment of mental illness. These developments are occuring against a backdrop of exploding research in the genetics and neurobiology of mental illness that will continue to drive the field. Paris ends by contemplating how going forward psychiatry can best respond to all these forces and proposes a team-based approach to mental health care. The book will appeal both to specialists and nonspecialists, particularly psychiatric residents and fellows, medical students considering specialization in psychiatry, clinical psychologists, social workers, and general readers, especially consumers of mental health services.

Prescribing Mental Health Medication is a text for practitioners who treat mental disorders with medication. It explains the entire process of medication assessment, management and follow up for general medical practitioners, mental health practitioners, students, residents, prescribing nurses and others perfecting this skill. Already used by providers and training institutions throughout the world, the newly revised second edition is completely updated and focuses on the following key issues: How to determine if medication is needed Proper dosing and how to start and stop medication When to change medication Dealing with difficult patients Specific mental health symptoms and appropriate medication Special populations including pregnant women, substance abusers, children and adolescents, and the elderly Monitoring medication with blood levels Management of medication side effects and avoidance of medication risk The misuse of medication Prescription of generic preparations Prescriptions via the Internet, telemedicine, and electronic medical records Organizing a prescriptive office and record-keeping Completely updated, this text includes information on all psychotropic medications in use in the United States and the United Kingdom. It incorporates clinical tips, sample dialogues for talking about medications to patients, and information specifically relevant in primary care settings.

"Prescribing Mental Health Medication is a text for nursing and medical practitioners who are learning how to diagnose and treat mental disorders with medication. Skills-based, it focuses on the following key issues: how to start and stop medication, how to dose, when to change medication, dealing with particular kinds of patients, specific illnesses and their medication, special populations and conditions, the management of side effects, practical issues such as monitoring medication with blood levels, administrative issues such as record-keeping." -- Publisher's description.

IN THIS STIRRING AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN WAKE-UP CALL, psychiatrist Daniel Carlat exposes deeply disturbing problems plaguing his profession, revealing the ways it has abandoned its essential purpose: to understand the mind, so that psychiatrists can heal mental illness and not just treat symptoms. As he did in his hard-hitting and widely read New York Times Magazine article "Dr. Drug Rep," and as he continues to do in his popular watchdog newsletter, The Carlat Psychiatry Report, he writes with bracing honesty about how psychiatry has so largely forsaken the practice of talk therapy for the seductive—and more lucrative—practice of simply prescribing drugs, with a host of deeply troubling consequences. Psychiatrists have settled for treating symptoms rather than causes, embracing the apparent medical rigor of DSM diagnoses and prescription in place of learning the more challenging craft of therapeutic counseling, gaining only limited understanding of their patients’ lives. Talk therapy takes time, whereas the fifteen-minute "med check" allows for more patients and more insurance company reimbursement. Yet DSM diagnoses, he shows, are premised on a good deal less science than we would think. Writing from an insider’s perspective, with refreshing forthrightness about his own daily struggles as a practitioner, Dr. Carlat shares a wealth of stories from his own practice and those of others that demonstrate the glaring shortcomings of the standard fifteen-minute patient visit. He also reveals the dangers of rampant diagnoses of bipolar disorder, ADHD, and other "popular" psychiatric disorders, and exposes the risks of the cocktails of medications so many patients are put on. Especially disturbing are the terrible consequences of overprescription of drugs to children of ever younger ages. Taking us on a tour of the world of pharmaceutical marketing, he also reveals the inner workings of collusion between psychiatrists and drug companies. Concluding with a road map for exactly how the profession should be reformed, Unhinged is vital reading for all those in treatment or considering it, as well as a stirring call to action for the large community of psychiatrists themselves. As physicians and drug companies continue to work together in disquieting and harmful ways, and as diagnoses—and misdiagnoses—of mental disorders skyrocket, it’s essential that Dr. Carlat’s bold call for reform is heeded.

The revised 13th edition of the essential reference for the prescribing of drugs for patients with mental health disorders The revised and updated 13th edition of The Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry provides up-to-date information, expert guidance on prescribing practice in mental health, including drug choice, treatment of adverse effects and how to augment or switch medications. The text covers a wide range of topics including pharmacological interventions for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety, and many other less common conditions. There is advice on prescribing in children and adolescents, in substance misuse and in special patient groups. This world-renowned guide has been written in concise terms by an expert team of psychiatrists and specialist pharmacists. The Guidelines help with complex prescribing problems and include information on prescribing psychotropic medications outside their licensed indications as well as potential interactions with other medications and substances such as alcohol, tobacco and caffeine. In addition, each of the book’s 165 sections features a full reference list so that evidence on which guidance is based can be readily accessed. This important text: Is the world’s leading clinical resource for evidence-based prescribing in day-to-day clinical practice and for formulating prescribing policy Includes referenced information on topics such as transferring from one medication to another, prescribing psychotropic medications during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and treating patients with comorbid physical conditions, including impaired renal or hepatic function. Presents guidance on complex clinical problems that may not be encountered routinely Written for psychiatrists, neuropharmacologists, pharmacists and clinical psychologists as well as nurses and medical trainees, The Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry are the established reference source for ensuring the safe and effective use of medications for patients presenting with mental health problems.

Psychiatry Under the Influence investigates the actions and practices of the American Psychiatric Association and academic psychiatry in the United States, and presents it as a case study of institutional corruption.