"Most books about psychopharmacology focus heavily on the basic science involved and describe the currently available medications, including brief rationales for their use as well as their dosages and their side effects. Others are more for the general public, intended to help them understand how psychopharmacology might be helpful. This book is different. The goal is to teach the reader what medicines are available and what their characteristics are as well as teach very valuable skills: how to think thoroughly and methodically when assessing a patient, when reviewing research data (both basic and clinical), and when thinking through, developing, and monitoring the most effective clinical recommendations for patients. Rather than a lesson in elementary patient assessment, this book is an attempt to help readers identify weaknesses in their practice style and improve them where psychopharmacology is involved"--

Practical Psychopharmacology takes the novel approach of writing at three different levels—beginning, intermediate, and advanced—to give the practicing psychopharmacologist a tailored experience. Each chapter focuses on a specific DSM-5 disorder and outlines abbreviated treatment guidelines to help the reader understand where their knowledge base and clinical practice currently resides. At the first level, the book teaches novice prescribers practical diagnostic skills and provides a brief overview of pertinent genetic and neuroimaging findings to increase prescribing confidence. Next, it provides mid-level clinicians with intermediate techniques and guidelines for more difficult cases. The final level provides nuanced guidance for advanced practitioners or those who see the most treatment-resistant patients. This approach allows a clinician to access this book periodically throughout the care of an individual patient and to gradually progress through a series of more advanced psychopharmacological techniques for making accurate and efficient diagnoses. Readers can also visit the book’s eResource page to download a bonus chapter on eating disorders as well as case studies and multiple-choice questions for each chapter.

A practical guide translating clinical trials findings, across major psychiatric disorders, to devise tailored, evidence-based treatments.

Tailoring mental illness drug treatments specifically for elderly people has been a neglected area. This book brings together findings from recent multi-disciplinary research and the practical aspects of old age psychiatry. By taking into account the perspectives of the patient and their family, the neuropathologist, the pharmacist, the nurse, the GP, and the specialist, Practical Old Age Psychopharmacology provides a sympathetic analysis of contemporary practice and offers guidelines for the future. Providing the only comprehensive overview of the topic the editors delve into the important role of psychotropic drugs and the management of mental illness in the elderly, how these drugs should be used and how a truly personal approach to patient care can be maintained. To provide a practical focus on specific clinical topics, individual chapters can be used independently This book is an invaluable reference for old age psychiatrists, psychiatrists in training, hospital and community mental health nurses, geriatricians, general practitioners, and pharmaceutical company staff. Clinical psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and health care managers will also find it beneficial as a complement to their own work.

Physicians of the 1990s cannot afford to spend valuable time combing through volumes of laborious discussions of tedious details on psychiatric drugs. Practical Handbook of Psychopharmacology is the most comprehensive, yet user-friendly guide to psychotropic medication available in any single source. Text is minimized and straight to the point, with critical clinical information given in two forms. First, highly useful tables with the relevant basic information on all major psychotropic drugs are provided. The book also contains clinical flowcharts or tabular practice guidelines that assist in making everyday decisions about the use of psychotropics. Unique chapters discuss the psychopharmacology of pain, personality disorders, aggression, and children/adolescents, while other chapters cover standard areas such as depression, mania, psychosis, and dementia.

The field of child and adolescent psychopharmacology is rapidly growing, but psychopharmacological treatments for children cannot be straightforwardly extrapolated from adult studies, which presents clinicians with assessment and prescribing challenges. This important book synthesises research findings about drug treatment of a broad range of psychiatric disorders in children, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar mania, aggression in pervasive developmental disorder, Tourette's syndrome and substance abuse. They examine the issues of tolerability and efficacy, and appropriate use, within a social and developmental context. For each disorder, pharmacotherapy is discussed in the wider context of neurobiology, etiology, diagnosis and treatment. This will be essential reading for all mental health professionals to inform practice and improve patient outcomes.

Much expanded, fully revised, and with many more new illustrations, this remains the essential text for anyone who has to master the complexities of psychopharmacology.