Although consultation liaison (CL) psychiatry has been practiced informally for many years, it has been recognized as a psychiatry subspecialty for less than two decades. This textbook addresses the important interface between the wide range of medical or surgical conditions and comorbid psychiatric disorders encountered in most hospital settings as well as outpatient sites. Because many patients admitted to a general hospital may have one or more psychiatric conditions that require attention and treatment to facilitate their recovery, this book will be an essential addition to any CL psychiatrist's library; it will be equally useful for consultation liaison psychiatry fellows, psychiatry residents, general psychiatrists who are interested in CL psychiatry or who perform psychiatric consultations from time to time, medical students on their CL psychiatry clerkships, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and attending neurologists and neurology residents and fellows.This book includes chapters that address the most prevalent, as well as rare medical conditions found among hospitalized patients and reviews assessment and treatment of the co-occurring psychiatric condition. For example, the Heart Disease chapter addresses patients' responses to a new, potentially life-threatening cardiac event, and explains the essential steps and interventions a CL consultant should take to optimize patient care and safety - as well as ways to help the care team to better understand and manage their own stress. Other chapters, among a total of 24, include Women's Health, Ethical and Legal Issues, and Eating Disorders. In addition, this book covers new areas or ones that are rarely or less comprehensively addressed in other CL texts, among them: Vulnerable Populations (including sections on psychiatric assessment and care of veterans, refugees, prisoners, LGBTQ-identified patients, and elders), Quality and Outcomes, Collaborative Care, and Telepsychiatry. This text includes more than 60 tables, and each chapter includes five multiple choice study questions with annotated answers. As a stand-alone reference, it is an inclusive, up-to-date, and state-of-the art database for this exciting and essential subspecialty. When paired with its sister text, Fundamentals of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry: Neuropsychiatry, these two volumes will empower readers to more precisely and comprehensively assess and treat medical or surgical patients suffering with one or more psychiatric conditions that may be adversely affecting their health and recovery.

Since the beginnings of consultation-liaison psychiatry 70 years ago, scientific knowledge about interrelations between psychological factors and medical illness has greatly advanced. Diagnosing and treating psychiatric comorbidity leads to an improved quality of life for patients as well as shorter hospitalizations and reduced costs. We can expect this subspecialty to grow exponentially in coming years as managed care continues to mandate cost-effective patient care. Based on "The American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry," the "Essentials of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry" compiles indispensable information for the practitioner who treats patients with both psychiatric symptoms and medical or surgical conditions. The text's many contributors share their knowledge and clinical experience in the evaluation and treatment of a variety of specific medical and psychiatric disorders. This book reviews legal and ethical principles important in the psychiatric management of physically ill patients and provides guidelines for assessing patients' potential for suicidality, aggression, and agitation within a medical-surgical setting. It also examines how to care for geriatric, rehabilitation, and neurology patients as well as patients in primary care clinics, intensive care units, and the emergency department. This reference provides a detailed synopsis of psychopharmacology, including a review of psychiatric medications and their interactions with medications used in treating medical-surgical illness. Psychotherapy and behavioral treatments that are effective in treating medical illnesses are also examined. This text is a vital on-the-job tool forphysicians treating patients with concurrent psychiatric and medical-surgical conditions. It is a great resource for physicians as well as medical students.

Consultation-liaison psychiatry interfaces between psychiatry and the rest of medicine as well as psychology, social work, nursing, and other behavioral science disciplines. This is a practical, up-to-date handbook providing a biopsychosocial, integrative perspective and drawing of the expertise of two renowned psychiatrists in the field. The book offers five major sections addressing the fundamentals of the field as well as an assessment the current status of the field.

As a supplement to "The American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry," the "Study Guide" provides readers the opportunity to evaluate and enhance their knowledge of consultation-liaison psychiatry. Bringing both academic and clinical expertise, the authors have compiled a useful, clinically focused guide. The "Study Guide to The American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry" is organized into 44 concise chapters allowing the reader to easily pinpoint topics of particular interest or clinical relevance. Each chapter provides questions and answers pertinent to the topic as well as corresponding reference pages in the "Textbook," The "Study Guide" includes questions that test readers knowledge of C-L psychiatry, mental status examinations and diagnosis, guidelines for neuropsychological and psychological assessment, specific psychiatric disorders in general hospital patients, symptoms of other medical problems, and various treatment options. This reference aids psychiatrists in studying for subspecialties of the General Psychiatry Board Examinations, state licensing examinations, and national certifying examinations. It is as invaluable tool for assessing and strengthening knowledge about the practice of psychiatry in patients with other medical illness. This comprehensive resource will be of particular interest to medical students, residents, and other physicians-in-training during clinical C-L psychiatry rotations. For the established practitioner, it is an essential resource for continued medical education and clinical practice.

This new handbook in the Practical Guides in Psychiatry series is designed for residents and clinicians who treat psychiatric disorders in medical and surgical patients. Replete with case examples, algorithms, "pearls," and tables, the book steers the reader through the evaluation and management of cognitive disorders, psychological symptoms, and substance abuse in the medical-surgical setting. Its emphasis is on adapting therapeutic recommendations to the patient's medical management program and understanding how psychiatric drugs interact with the patient's other medications. Coverage includes the psychiatric consultation report; pain management; forensic issues; death, dying, and bereavement; and issues particular to specific medical-surgical diseases.

The essential role of the psychiatrist as consultant and educator of primary care physicians is increasing in importance as the American health care system faces fundamental restructuring. In a recent workshop during the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, a number of prominent consultation-liaison psychiatrists reviewed major developments in consultation-liaison psychiatry during the past decade and looked toward the future. This book is based on these presentations, but it is not simply a proceedings book. A number of additional experts have contributed important chapters, and all the chapters based on the presentations are expanded and updated. Thus, this book reviews the current state of consultation-liaison psychiatry and anticipates future challenges. It also informs the reader about the state-of-the-art knowledge and skills in consultation-liaison psychiatry as of 1994. This book should be a valuable up-to-date overview/refresher for both consultation liaison psychiatrists and general psychiatrists who wish to update and formulate his/her consultant role. It should be especially valuable for psychiatric residents for whom the role as consultant to primary physicians assumes increasing importance, and for primary physicians and medical students who are interested in learning about commonly encountered complex biopsychosocial problems of their patients and integrating these dimensions in patient care. I am grateful to Mary Safford and Eileen Bermingham of Plenum for their help with the preparation and production of this book. I am also thankful to Anita Shaw for her secretarial help. Hoyle Leigh, M. D.

Somatically ill patients often also suffer from psychological symptoms. The diagnosis and treatment of these symptoms and their underlying psychiatric disorders are the task of consultation-liaison psychiatry. In this publication the latest developments, such as psychiatric comorbidity in general hospital inpatients as well as mental disorders in the outpatient setting, and special disorders like depression, alcohol abuse, and delirium, are discussed. One chapter on suicide attempts delineates the results and experiences from the 'German Competency Network on Depression'. The important topic of somatoform disorders in outpatient and inpatient settings is also reviewed. Non-German readers are usually are not aware that, in Germany, there are two distinct board-certified physician specialties dealing with patients with psychiatric illnesses, usually referred to as 'psychiatrists' and 'psychosomaticists'. In the 'Debate Section' succinct viewpoints are presented to enable the reader to decide whether this dichotomy is helpful or not in the clinical care of patients with psychiatric and somatic comorbidity. This publication is essential reading for psychiatrists, psychosomaticists, psychotherapists, geriatricians, psychologists, internists and health care planners. Also medical students and non-psychiatrists who want to broaden their view on how modern psychiatry can assist in the care of their patients will find it of special interest.

Foundations of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry: The Bumpy Road to Specialization documents the development of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry from its inception to the present. The book draws on contributions from philosophy, physiology, psychoanalysis, epidemiology and other disciplines to define the broad scope of the field. Distinctions and similarities between Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine will be of interest to psychiatrists, social workers, and health psychologists, as well as students, residents, and fellows pursuing careers in these disciplines.