Psichiatria

This new addition to the "Practical Guides in Psychiatry" series is a clinically oriented pocket guide to diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia and other psychoses. Using the conversational style and case vignettes found in all "Practical Guides in Psychiatry" titles, Dr. Freudenreich shows how to recognize psychotic signs and symptoms, arrive at a clinical diagnosis that explains the psychosis, and treat the disorder. Close attention is given to management of medical comorbidity, antipsychotic-induced side effects, and drug interactions. Coverage also includes prognostic considerations and forensic and social aspects of schizophrenia. Appendices contain pocket cards covering emergencies, rating scales, and wellness. "The Practical Guides in Psychiatry" series provides quick, concise information for professionals on the front lines of mental health care.Written in an easy-to-read, conversational style, these invaluable resources take you through each step of the psychiatric care process, delivering fast facts and helpful strategies that help you provide effective and compassionate care to your patients.

Written to help identify major gaps in our knowledge of how gender and age affect psychiatric diagnoses and to stimulate much-needed research to fill these gaps, Age and Gender Considerations in Psychiatric Diagnosis serves as both a valuable short-term source for the DSM-V Task Force and its disorder-specific workgroups, and a long-term guide for future studies that will contribute to revised psychiatric classifications in these three areas. Here, 47 experts present findings in three areas of psychiatric research that historically have been neglected but rightfully have received increasing attention in recent years and thus are worthy of investigation into their clinical features, etiology, and course: 1. Significant gender differences in prevalence, symptom profiles, and risk factors for mental disorders, including neurodevelopmental, neurophysiological, and environmental factors for men and women that cut across diagnostic categories-for example, the critical importance of gender in how psychiatric illness develops and presents; DSM's approach to gender to date; and relevant research findings and gaps in the epidemiology, etiology, and pathophysiology of disorders and the gender-related expression of psychopathology, including the controversial and complex question of whether DSM should have different diagnostic criteria for men and women. 2. Mental disorders in infancy and early childhood, including diagnosis and measurement of psychopathology; PTSD and social and cognitive factors related to the experience of stress; reactive attachment disorder (unique in part because of its specificity to early childhood); mood and anxiety disorders and difficulties in diagnosis; sleep disorders, including two new disorders, Night-Waking Dysomnia and Sleep-Onset Dysomnia; feeding disorders, including the need to address overeating and overfeeding (especially given the alleged U.S. epidemic of obesity); early childhood manifestations of behavior disorders; and early symptoms and diagnosis of autism. 3. Mental disorders in the elderly, such as dementia and depression, once considered normal consequences of aging but now understood to represent mental disorders, including the need to identify specific brain structure abnormalities, biomarkers, and the many contributing biological, psychosocial, and environmental factors of mental illness in late life and to understand their roles in the elderly to better diagnose and monitor disease progression. Written for clinicians and researchers alike, this thought-provoking compendium contributes critical information that helps enhance our understanding of the causes of mental disorders, develop effective preventive and treatment interventions, and inform future editions of DSM and ICD.

This practical, clinically oriented handbook provides up-to-date information on the concept, causality, diagnosis, and pharmacologic and behavioral treatment of hypomania, an increasingly recognized stage of bipolar illness often referred to as "elevated mood." The first section traces the evolution of the concept of elevated mood, including the bipolar spectrum model and the GEnES fingerprint, a new model for understanding the role of both neurocellular and environmental factors in mood disorders. Subsequent sections address diagnostic issues, provide evidence-based treatment recommendations, and discuss the management of symptoms, populations, and comorbid conditions that pose special challenges. This title features an appendix lists Internet resources for patients.

The spectrum of psychotic disorders encompasses as many as 25 different etiologies, ranging from the primary psychoses through those secondary to medical conditions, drugs and medications, and sensory impairments. This 2007 book provides a one-stop, comprehensive review of these disorders and gives quick comparisons for diagnostic decision-making to help with difficult differential diagnoses. Every chapter is uniformly structured to show comparisons between each disorder of presentation, course, and underlying neuropathology. Evidence for each etiology is also rated, indicating the confidence level the reader can place in the current findings. The international team of authors also examines data supporting a unitary neurobiological model of psychosis and the hypothesis that psychosis is a neurobiological syndrome similar to aphasia or apraxia. This book represents a paradigm shift in understanding, classifying and diagnosing these disorders, providing directions for future research and treatment. It will be of great interest to psychiatrists and neuroscientists alike.

Offering a sophisticated introduction to a contemporary psychodynamic model of the mind and treatment, this book provides an approach to understanding and treating higher level personality pathology. It describes a specific form of treatment called "dynamic psychotherapy for higher level personality pathology" (DPHP), which was designed specifically to treat the rigidity that characterizes that condition. Based on psychodynamic object relations theory, DPHP is an outgrowth of transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) and is part of an integrated approach to psychodynamic treatment of personality pathology across the spectrum of severity?A?Afrom higher level personality pathology, described in this volume, to severe personality pathology, described in a companion volume, Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality: Focusing on Object Relations. Together, they provide a comprehensive description of an object relations theory-based approach to treatment of personality disorders, embedded in an integrated model of personality. As a guide to treatment, Handbook of Dynamic Psychotherapy for Higher Level Personality Pathology provides a clear, specific, and comprehensive description of how to practice DPHP from beginning to end, presented in jargon-free exposition using extensive clinical illustrations. The authors offer a comprehensive description of psychodynamic consultation that includes sharing the diagnostic impression, establishing treatment goals, discussing treatment options, obtaining informed consent, and establishing treatment frame. Throughout, the book emphasizes fundamental clinical principles that enable the clinician to think through clinical decisions moment-to-moment and also to develop an overall sense of the trajectory and goals of the treatment. Among the book's benefits: -Takes a diagnosis-driven approach, presenting a clear model of both the psychopathology and its treatment; -Explains underlying theory and basic elements of DPHP for those first learning dynamic therapy; -Offers an integrated, innovative synthesis of contemporary psychodynamic approaches to personality pathology and psychodynamic psychotherapy; -Describes goals, strategies, tactics, and techniques of the treatment to demonstrate its flexibility over a relatively long course of treatment; -Provides sophisticated discussion of integrating dynamic psychotherapy with medication management and other forms of treatment. DPHP offers a broad range of patients the opportunity to modify maladaptive personality functioning in ways that can permanently enhance their quality of life. Handbook of Dynamic Psychotherapy for Higher Level Personality Pathology provides experienced clinicians with a hands-on approach to that method, and is also useful as a primary textbook in courses focusing on the technique of dynamic psychotherapy or in courses on psychodynamics.