The Perspectives of Psychiatry / Edition 2

by Paul R. McHugh MD, Phillip R. Slavney MD

Overview

Substantially revised to include a wealth of new material, the second edition of this highly acclaimed work provides a concise, coherent introduction that brings structure to an increasingly fragmented and amorphous discipline. Paul R. McHugh and Phillip R. Slavney offer an approach that emphasizes psychiatry's unifying concepts while accommodating its diversity. Recognizing that there may never be a single, all-encompassing theory, the book distills psychiatric practice into four explanatory methods: diseases, dimensions of personality, goal-directed behaviors, and life stories. These perspectives, argue the authors, underlie the principles and practice of all psychiatry. With an understanding of these fundamental methods, readers will be equipped to organize and evaluate psychiatric information and to develop a confident approach to practice and research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801860461
Publisher:	Wolters Kluwer Health, LWW
Publication date:	11/29/1998
Series:	Johns Hopkins Series in Contemporary Medicine and Public Health
Edition description:	second edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.83(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Paul R. McHugh, M.D., is the Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, the former director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the coauthor of The Perspectives of Psychiatry, also available from Johns Hopkins. He was selected by President George W. Bush to sit on the Presidential Council on Bioethics and by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to be on their National Review Board for the elimination of the sexual abuse of children by clergy.

Phillip R. Slavney, M.D., is the Eugene Meyer III Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the author of Psychiatric Dimensions of Medical Practice, coeditor of The Primary Care Physician's Guide to Common Psychiatric and Neurologic Problems, and coauthor of The Perspectives of Psychiatry, all available from Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Part I: Assessment and Explanation in Psychiatry
Chapter 1. The Mind-Brain Problem and a Structure for Psychiatry
Chapter 2. Factionalism: The Other Source of Disarray in Psychiatry
Chapter 3. Classification in Psychiatry and the Method of DSM-IV
Part II: The Concept of Diseases
Chapter 4. The Disease Perspective: Its Premises, History, Strengths, and Limitations for Psychiatry
Chapter 5. The Disease Concept Exemplified by Psychiatric Conditions with Known Neuropathologies
Chapter 6. The Disease Concept Applied to Psychiatric Conditions Without Known Neuropathologies
Chapter 7. Manic-Depression: A Disorder in the Affective Realm
Chapter 8. Schizophrenia
Part III: The Concept of Dimensions
Chapter 9. The Dimensional Perspective: Graded, Quantitative, Dispositional Distinctions
Chapter 10. Mental Subnormality: Distinctions Within a Dimensional Feature
Chapter 11. Temperament, Affective Dimensions, and Personality Disorders
Chapter 12. Emotions, Life Events, Traits of Temperament, and Treatment
Part IV: The Concept of Behaviors
Chapter 13. The Behavior Perspective
Chapter 14. Characteristics of Motivated Behaviors
Chapter 15. The Causes of Behavioral Disorders
Chapter 16. Treatment Principles for Behavioral Disorders
Chapter 17. Bulimia Nervosa: A Behavior Treated Through Stages of Change
Chapter 18. Hysteria
Chapter 19. Suicide
Part V: The Concept of Life Stories
Chapter 20. The Life-Story Perspective
Chapter 21. The Application of the Life-Story Perspective in Practice: Power, Process, and Pitfalls
Part VI: Practical Implications
Chapter 22. Practical Implications of the Perspectives
Chapter 23. Integrative Summary
Appendix: Reliability and Validity: The Process of Verification
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Nancy Schell, MD (Rush University Medical Center)
Description: This is the second edition of a book composed more than a decade ago. It assists in the understanding of basic patterns and elements of psychiatric reasoning so that students can more easily grasp the details and problems encountered in this field.
Purpose: The purpose is to describe psychiatric thought and forge a conceptual structure on which better research and practices can arise while showing how the informational content of psychiatry is organized.
Audience: Though the stated audience is students, it is equally useful to anyone in the field of psychiatry.
Features: The authors explore different methods of reasoning necessary to understand patients. These are called "perspectives" and are distinct but complementary ways of looking at mental disorders. The four perspectives are discussed in four chapters, using psychiatric conditions that best illustrate each perspective. There is a good introductory chapter and recapitulation at the end. An appendix and references are also provided.
Assessment: This is a well-organized and logical presentation. It is very useful in today's clamor of biology versus psychology and helps anyone interested in psychiatry to consider patients and conditions in an integrated, open-minded fashion.

Doody's Review Service

I know many physicians who would like their own liaison psychiatrist in their pocket (in more ways than one). Those who work at Johns Hopkins now have just that. This book comprises the portable advice of the Johns Hopkins Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine to help physicians with some of the commonest psychiatric issues they encounter.
—Eleanor Feldman, Psychological Medicine

A very informative text that does an excellent job of introducing to some and presenting to others effective approaches to psychiatric and neurological symptoms . . . Provides practical, time friendly, concepts that would be usable after only the first read.
—M. Ojinga Harrison, M.D., Journal of Psychosomatic Research

This brilliant book illuminates psychiatry more clearly than any other work I know. . . . This is the best (and the shortest) single volume on psychiatry that anyone could read.
—New England Journal of Medicine

Every psychiatry department, regardless of ideology, should build a course around this . . . work. Open-mindedness might become fashionable.
—Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

An elegantly reasoned and eloquently written book that enriches our understanding of clinical events. . . . [It provides] an opportunity to open our eyes to new possibilities.
—Hospital and Community Psychiatry

From the Publisher

An elegantly reasoned and eloquently written book that enriches our understanding of clinical events. . . . [It provides] an opportunity to open our eyes to new possibilities.

Hospital and Community Psychiatry

This brilliant book illuminates psychiatry more clearly than any other work I know. . . . This is the best (and the shortest) single volume on psychiatry that anyone could read.

New England Journal of Medicine

A very informative text that does an excellent job of introducing to some and presenting to others effective approaches to psychiatric and neurological symptoms . . . Provides practical, time friendly, concepts that would be usable after only the first read.

Journal of Psychosomatic Research - M. Ojinga Harrison

A very informative text that does an excellent job of introducing to some and presenting to others effective approaches to psychiatric and neurological symptoms... Provides practical, time friendly, concepts that would be usable after only the first read.

— M. Ojinga Harrison, M.D.

Journal of Psychosomatic Research

I know many physicians who would like their own liaison psychiatrist in their pocket (in more ways than one). Those who work at Johns Hopkins now have just that. This book comprises the portable advice of the Johns Hopkins Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine to help physicians with some of the commonest psychiatric issues they encounter.

— Eleanor Feldman

Psychological Medicine

"Every psychiatry department, regardless of ideology, should build a course around this... work. Open-mindedness might become fashionable."

Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

"I know many physicians who would like their own liaison psychiatrist in their pocket (in more ways than one). Those who work at Johns Hopkins now have just that. This book comprises the portable advice of the Johns Hopkins Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine to help physicians with some of the commonest psychiatric issues they encounter."

Psychological Medicine - Eleanor Feldman

4 Stars! from Doody

This is the second edition of a book composed more than a decade ago. It assists in the understanding of basic patterns and elements of psychiatric reasoning so that students can more easily grasp the details and problems encountered in this field. The purpose is to describe psychiatric thought and forge a conceptual structure on which better research and practices can arise while showing how the informational content of psychiatry is organized. Though the stated audience is students, it is equally useful to anyone in the field of psychiatry. The authors explore different methods of reasoning necessary to understand patients. These are called ""perspectives"" and are distinct but complementary ways of looking at mental disorders. The four perspectives are discussed in four chapters, using psychiatric conditions that best illustrate each perspective. There is a good introductory chapter and recapitulation at the end. An appendix and references are also provided. This is a well-organized and logical presentation. It is very useful in today's clamor of biology versus psychology and helps anyone interested in psychiatry to consider patients and conditions in an integrated, open-minded fashion.

Nancy P. Schell

Expanding upon the 1986 edition, Johns Hopkins' psychiatry faculty present the ways in which the subject matter is organized rather than the entire informational content of the field. Boldly proclaiming that such a structure provides a better basis for research and practice than the all-encompassing "biopsychosocial" orientation, the authors cover: assessment and explanation; the concepts of diseases, dimensions, behaviors, and life stories; practical implications; and reliability and validity. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews