Doody's Review Service

Reviewer:	Daniel Tuinstra, MD (Holland Hospital)

Description
The book is a quick and practical guide to medications used in psychiatric practice. It organizes an immense collection of common and uncommon medications into an alphabetical reference guide including critical and practical information regarding each medication.

Purpose
The book intends to be an easy-to-use guide for clinicians prescribing psychiatric medications. It systematically and exhaustively covers commonly and rarely used medications in psychiatric practice. Given the breadth of medications used in psychiatry, the guide is a worthy cause.

Audience
The intended audience includes psychiatrists and other non-physician practitioners. It can also be a useful tool for trainees as well as therapists and psychologists who wish to have familiarity with psychiatric medications mechanism of action, side effects, interactions, and monitoring. The book is the easiest to use resource of its kind. The expert editors and team of students that developed the book strike the ideal balance of high-yield reference material and appropriate resources for further exploration if desired.

Features
The book is comprehensive with recent updates to the pharmacopeia. It covers information including how to initiate, monitor, and discontinue or transition to other medications. It also includes practical information presented in an easy-to-use format including warnings, interactions, and considerations for pregnancy and pediatric populations. The editors add clinical pearls from experts in addition to the evidence-based recommendations. Each medication is presented in a consistent format with easy-to-follow layout. This book serves as the go-to highly efficient reference for psychiatric medication management. Given the frequent developments in psychiatric medications, there are some newer additions that have not been captured, but with additional research and clinical practice, will certainly be included in future editions.

Assessment
This high-quality book is used in my clinical practice and is often the first stop for referencing dosing, interactions, side effects, and clinical pearls. There are several psychopharmacology reference books, but this guide strikes the ideal balance of depth and efficiency. Additionally, compared to other books, the editors balance evidence-based recommendations with expert guidance. The book is inclusive of pediatric, geriatric, and pregnant populations and includes useful tips for medically compromised populations, which makes this book ideal for multiple clinical settings.