Clinical Manual of Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment

A]n excellent review for the second part of the psychiatric boards. The vignettes are engrossing and make the presented information easier to recall.—Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic

At the beginning of Clinical Manual of Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment: A Biopsychosocial Approach, the author modestly informs us that this is not a comprehensive textbook of psychiatry. Yet the reader will find ten beefy chapters, arranged by diagnostic category, addressing the major issues psychiatrists encounter in clinical practice. Dr. Pies’ great strength is his comfortable writing style. He communicates a great deal of technical material in a friendly manner. The text is well-organized and chock-full of clinical vignettes.—David S. Harnett, M.D., Chief of Psychiatry and Director, Medical-Psychiatric Unit, Lawrence Memorial Hospital of Medford, Mass.

Those in search of a humanized text of psychiatry need look no further than Dr. Pies’ very readable manual. It highlights the psychopharmacologic and psychotherapeutic essentials of patient care without sacrificing the biopsychosocial reality of the individual. Rich in wisdom and wit, this book avoids the dryness of traditional ‘fact books’ and ‘how-to’ manuals. Its liberal sprinkling of case vignettes illustrated diagnostic syndromes, while whetting the reader’s curiosity with historical references, literary allusions, and humor. This volume is bound to rekindle the student’s and resident’s—indeed, any reader’s—excitement for both the artistic and scientific dimensions of psychiatry as a profession.—Don R. Lipsitt, M.D., Chairman, Department of Psychiatry, Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School