Manual of clinical psychopharmacology

BOOK REVIEW

Review of the book entitled Manual of clinical psychopharmacology

Felipe Almeida Picon

Psychiatrist, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Resident, UFRGS

^{Correspondence}

Alan F. Schatzberg, Jonathan O. Cole, Charles DeBattista

Washington DC, American Psychiatric Publishing, 2007, 6th edition

Once again, Professor Alan F. Schatzberg, at Stanford University, California, and his colleagues delight us with the latest edition of the Manual of Clinical Psychopharmacology, recently published in May 2007. I had my first contact with this manual in its fourth edition, during my first year of residency in psychiatry. Since then, I have followed all publications by that group, which are also available as essentials and textbook, the latter presenting psychopharmacology in an even deeper form.

This manual is the handbook version of the group publications and deals with psychopharmacology in an objective and up-to-date manner, including in some chapters psychotropics that are still on clinical trials before commercialization. There are 697 pages in the size of a pocket book, which makes it a portable book ready to serve as a quick guide for varied doubts in terms of clinical use of psychopharmacology. It was originally published in English, and its latest translation into Portuguese is from the 2003 version, which is for sale in specialized bookstores across the country. The first version of the manual was released in 1986, and a new edition has been printed every 2 years. This is the sixth edition of the manual, which once again reaches its authors' goals, i.e., an easy-to-read and up-to-date guide on psychopharmacology.

The book is divided into 13 chapters, and it includes a preface by the authors and two annexes at the end. Annex A lists costs and strengths of antidepressants and antipsychotics (in the USA), and annex B brings suggested readings on psychopharmacology for clinical psychiatrists and for patients and their relatives. Brands and names of psychotropics in the USA are different from those in Brazil in many cases, but this does not affect reading, since the authors always refer to drugs using their pharmacological names. Another relevant aspect related to brands and manufacturers and that is seriously dealt with is the statement, whenever present, of possible conflicts of interest, both by authors and references that support their statements. This attitude is highly relevant in a psychopharmacology book, since psychiatrists already receive several advertising stimuli from the pharmaceutical industry in their everyday practice.

The 13 chapters comprising this book are the following: (1) General principles of psychopharmacological treatment; (2) Diagnosis and classification; (3) Antidepressants; (4) Antipsychotics drugs; (5) Mood stabilizers; (6) Antianxiety agents; (7) Hypnotics; (8) Stimulants and other fast-acting drugs; (9) Augmentation strategies for treatment-resistant disorders; (10) Emergency room treatment; (11) Pharmacotherapy for substance use disorders; (12) Pharmacotherapy in special situations; and (13) Herbal and dietary supplements. The chapters present drugs separated by subclasses, with their chemical formulas, pharmacological effects, indications, adverse effects, effects in case of overdose, drug interactions and administration dosages and forms. Given the manual's nature and characteristic, there are many clinical examples applying chosen pharmacological conducts. Examples are often based on clinical research studies coordinated by the authors themselves, and sometimes on known studies in the psychiatric literature. Conducts based on scientific evidence are found along with conducts based on clinical experience, and this is another important characteristic that makes this book particularly relevant for daily clinical use. Both experienced clinical psychiatrists and residents can access this book with the same interest and learn a lot from it, since subjects are approached in such a way that reflects daily practice of clinical psychiatry, including difficult therapeutic decisions and situations that are not dealt with in randomized clinical trials.

Besides chapters discussing basic psychotropic classes, there are some chapters dedicated to issues such as augmentation, emergency, special situations and herbal and dietary supplements. These chapters innovate in many aspects, such as that on herbal and dietary supplements, which brings information about clinical trials on St. John's Wort and information about Ginkgo Biloba and Valerian, with the same approach used for other drugs, including indications, contraindications, intoxication and others. The chapter dealing with special situations brings information about use of psychotropics during pregnancy, in pediatric and geriatric populations, in mental retardation and in other medical conditions that have increasingly needed these drugs and brought about the growing need psychiatrists have of mastering use of their instruments faced with other drug therapies in other medical pathologies.

In summary, the latest work by Alan F. Schatzberg et al. is recommended for those who are in need of an up-to-date guide about how, when and with what intensity to use a specific drug and even more recommended to psychiatry residents, who need to obtain fast and efficacious knowledge to treat their patients.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  14 Dec 2007
• Date of issue
  Aug 2007