Pocket Guide to Psychiatric Practice: A Companion to the Introductory Textbook of Psychiatry, Sixth Edition

The long-awaited Pocket Guide to Psychiatric Practice is a portable and concise
companion to its parent textbook, Introductory Textbook of Psychiatry, Sixth
Edition, the preeminent introduction to psychiatry for residents, medical
students, and other health professionals. The Pocket Guide is designed to be
carried with them on clinical rotations and contains the information needed for
patient assessment and clinical management in an easily accessible and
convenient format. Mirroring the larger text, the guide takes as its premise
that physicians-regardless of their ultimate role in medicine-should be able to
define and recognize mental illnesses, to identify methods for treating them,
and, for those few who become researchers, to help develop methods for
discovering their causes and implementing preventive measures. This pocket
version, compatible with DSM-5, includes criteria sets for the most common
disorders that learners encounter and is organized to follow the developmental
lifespan. The author, who co-edited the larger text, has retained many of the
attributes that made the parent text successful, while adding new, user-friendly
features: Completely up-to-date information on all of the disorders and
descriptions of newly released medications. A writing style that is
interesting, consistent, and highly accessible, with no redundancy. A wealth
of tables, lists, and other strategies for presenting information in a concise
and easy-to-understand manner. Content organized in parallel with the
Introductory Textbook of Psychiatry to make it easier to locate additional
learning resources-such as case vignettes, useful clinical "pearls,"
self-assessment questions, and a glossary of terms-as needed. An emphasis on
the satisfaction of working with psychiatric patients of all types and in all
settings that will be appreciated by learners beginning their journey in the
field.

Pocket Guide to Psychiatric Practice is a highly readable,
interesting, and useful resource. Although the book is written primarily for
medical students and residents in their first years of training, it will prove
useful for individuals seeking psychiatric training from the perspectives of
other disciplines such as nursing or social work. The Pocket Guide can be
combined with the larger and more detailed Introductory Textbook of Psychiatry
and the student-oriented Study Guide to Introductory Psychiatry, to constitute a
library of resources on psychiatric disorders and their assessment that sets the
stage for lifelong learning.