Maintenance Pharmacotherapies for Neuropsychiatric Disorders

This is a well-written, sensible, useful book that is misnamed. The title suggests that the book talks only about pharmacotherapies, and only for maintenance treatment. Rather, each of the disorder-specific chapters—for example, "Depressive Disorders"—provides a brief overview of the characteristic psychopathology and course of the disorder, methods for screening and diagnosis, and key features to monitor, such as suicide risk. Available medications are reviewed, with straightforward advice about initiation of treatment, target dosing, drug interactions, and use in special populations such as children or the elderly. The importance and usefulness of concomitant psychosocial treatments are consistently emphasized.

Besides chapters covering the usual psychiatric disorders, chapters on the treatment of psychiatric aspects of seizure disorders, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebrovascular accidents, chronic pain, HIV infection, and traumatic brain injury are provided. They are very helpful.

Along with the chapters written by the book's authors, contributor Bruce Pollock provides a brief and elegant review of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles. Junius Gonzales and Kevin Schulman take us comfortably through the increasingly important concepts of pharmacoeconomics.

I enthusiastically recommend this book to every first- or second-year psychiatric resident, to be read from cover to cover. Nonmedical professionals will also find this book a useful manual for understanding pharmacologic treatments.

Dr. McEvoy is clinical director of John Umstead Hospital in Butner, North Carolina.