Massachusetts General Hospital Comprehensive Clinical Psychiatry, 3rd Edition

By: Theodore A. Stern, MD, Timothy E. Wilens, MD and Maurizio Fava, MD

ISBN: 9780443118449

Publication Date: June 9, 2024

Reviewer: Daniel M Tuinstra, MD (Holland Hospital)

Description

This third edition book is a broad introductory textbook, with accompanying eBook resources. It gives an overview of the fundamentals critical for mastery for psychiatric residents. From foundational topics of patient interaction and common diagnoses to the implications of unique populations and treatment settings, the book provides an excellent guide for mastery of the psychiatric clinical fundamentals. This new edition justifies replacing the last one, published in 2015.

Purpose

The book compiles a foundational, comprehensive guide to all areas of modern clinical psychiatry. It aims to create a framework for psychiatric trainees to build upon. The book’s objective is laudable and attained by rich descriptions of nuanced, timeless art of patient interaction and more biologically-based understandings of mental illness and the underlying rationale for modern treatment interventions. The book remains a clinical guide while maintaining a balance with technical aspects of the underlying science. The value of having an introduction to all things psychiatry is extremely valuable to psychiatric trainees who may feel lost in the ever-evolving specialty.

Audience

The ideal audience for this textbook is psychiatric interns. The book is an all-in-one guide to the specialty. It strikes a helpful balance of presenting the overarching fundamentals of diagnosis and treatment while including enough detail to give trainees a practical starting point to put the concept into practice. In combination with beginning clinical practice, this guide should prepare psychiatric residents to be well-rounded clinical experts. The book can be an excellent reference for psychiatrists after training that may shift treatment settings or have unique consultation questions from neuroimaging to cultural factors of mental illness.

Features

This book seeks to prepare psychiatrists to be clinically safe and effective in all treatment settings.  It is organized logically, beginning with instructions on patient interactions and the fundamentals of DSM-5-TR diagnoses. The book then adds additional complexities, including medical and psychosocial complexities. It also introduces subspecialty topics. The addiction chapter provides a concise overview of FDA-approved and off-label pharmacotherapy options and non-pharmacologic options. While some updated information on alternative buprenorphine induction schedules is included, there are some notable omissions, including ketamine, xylazine, kratom, electronic cigarettes, and cannabis concentrates, that will hopefully be included in future editions.

Website Features

The eBook is presented beautifully and essentially identical to the print version. The figures and tables are of the highest quality. There are links to references and hyperlinks to most articles. The search features and links from the table of contents make the eBook a highly efficient reference. Users may highlight, bookmark, make flashcards, and change preferences, but it is not easy to print. The eBook display is suitable for tablets and computers.

Assessment

As a comprehensive introductory textbook for psychiatric trainees, this book is of the highest caliber compared to others in this category. Other comprehensive psychiatry textbooks pay more attention to the history of psychiatry and may be written more consistently with the in-training exam, but this book has the highest quality demagoguery and overall presentation. It has the broadest display of content and includes solid clinical preparation with excellent rationale in all areas of the vast and ever-evolving specialty of psychiatry.

©Doody’s Review Service, 2024, Daniel M Tuinstra, MD (Holland Hospital), Doody’s Score: 97 – 5 Stars!

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