Hong Kong J Psychiatry. 2001;11(3): 26-27
BOOK REVIEW
Editors: Gerald O’Mahony, James V Lucey.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, USA, 1998; 1st edition.
US$70; pp 151; ISBN: 0-471-97570-2.
The essence of this book can be ascertained from this excerpt from the preface:“This book originated from case discussions in the Department of Psychological Medicine, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. It is about therapy. It is not a textbook of psychiatry. We have drawn together a group of contributors to set out brief, accessible accounts of a variety of common treatments. Not every treatment in psychiatry is described. Neither do we attempt to prescribe the management of specif ic conditions. Instead, we have asked contributors to describe the essentials of the most widely applied methods in clinical practice.”
The end-product of these accounts is a text, however, that is not in-depth enough for veterans, and also, un- fortunately, not systematic and explanatory enough for beginners.
Following an introductory chapter on treatment planning, specif ic areas are featured, including psychoanalytical thinking, group therapy, social and community psychiatry,behavioural and cognitive therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, physical treatments for depression, prophylaxis for affective disorders, and antipsychotic therapy. Overall the book is useful as a general textbook, but it does not offer a great deal more than other general textbooks currently available.
Lastly, there are a number of printing errors which de- tract from this publication — notably, the substitution of the heading Social and Community Psychotherapy in place of Social and Community Psychiatry throughout chapter 4, as well as incorrect drawings for the structures of the compounds desipramine and nortriptyline.
Dr HK Cheung
Chief of Service
Castle Peak Hospital
Hong Kong, China