Essentials of Psychosomatic Medicine » (New Edition)

James L. Levenson, M.D., is Chair of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Vice-Chair of Psychiatry at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, in Richmond, Virginia.

This condensed version of The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychosomatic Medicine focuses on psychiatric care for medically ill patients. Essentials of Psychosomatic Medicine presents that portion of the larger work devoted to specific disorders, enabling the practitioner to assist patients with comorbid psychiatric and general medical illnesses complicating each other's management. Each chapter covers epidemiology, psychological factors affecting specific diseases, the effects those diseases have on mental health, diagnostic issues, and treatment, including psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, psychiatric side effects of drugs for medical conditions, and drug interactions relevant to the diseases covered.

More succinct than the Textbook while offering broader coverage than most other books on psychiatric care of medical patients, Essentials first guides users through general principles in evaluation and management and then offers, in concise form, all 18 specialty chapters from the Textbook, updated for this edition. All of the medical specialties are covered, including the internal medicine subspecialties, neurology, surgery, ob-gyn, organ transplantation, pediatrics, dermatology, physical medicine, and pain management. Each chapter ends with multiple-choice questions for self-assessment. Among the range of issues taken up are

• Depression as a major factor affecting medical outcomes in coronary artery disease, diabetes, and other diseases.
• Neuropsychiatric presentations of endocrine, rheumatologic, and infectious diseases.
• Controversies surrounding functional disorders like irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
• Psychiatric complications of medical treatments like chemotherapy, implanted defibrillators, and immunosuppression.
• Psychological factors affecting medical compliance and surgical results.
• Special considerations in using psychiatric drugs in the medically ill.

Today's psychiatrists are increasingly called upon to help diagnose, understand, and manage a wide array of conditions in order to address the needs of both the patient and the medical-surgical team. Concise yet comprehensive, Essentials of Psychosomatic Medicine stands at the interface of psychiatry and medicine to help them better meet those needs.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Benjamin Ling, DO(Rush University Medical Center)
Description:This is a systematic review of the most current understanding of selected topics in the field of psychosomatic medicine.
Purpose:The overall purpose is to discuss the diagnostic formulation and treatment recommendations of three groups of patients: "those with comorbid psychiatric and general medical illnesses, those with somatoform and functional disorders, and those with psychiatric disorders that are the direct consequence of a primary medical condition or its treatment." Epidemiological data, various psychiatric treatment modalities, and relevant drug interactions for interface topics within each medical specialty are discussed.
Audience:This book is intended primarily for practitioners in consultation-liaison psychiatry. However, any clinician working at, or appreciative of, the various points of interface between medicine and psychiatry will gain a more sophisticated view of this complex and bidirectional relationship.
Features:After starting with a general discussion of basic principles of psychiatric consultation, the book then delves into the scope of psychiatric burden in the medical population, either as independent, secondary, or causal phenomena. The chapter on renal disease is particularly well written, drawing on a wealth of evidence-based literature to describe the unique treatment challenges that face both patient and clinician. Each chapter is followed by a self-assessment quiz to emphasize important teaching points.
Assessment:As a condensed and updated version of The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychosomatic Medicine (American Psychiatric Publishing, 2005), this book discusses the essential points of psychosomatic interface in elucidative fashion and without serious omission. This is a difficult but important task, requiring the accumulated experience of various authors to achieve its comprehensiveness. Readers looking for a concise, albeit sophisticated, review of any psychosomatic topic will not be disappointed by the condensed edition.

Contributors. Preface. Psychiatric assessment and consultation. Heart disease. Lung disease. Gastrointestinal disorders. Renal disease. Endocrine disorders. Oncology. Rheumatology. Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia syndromes. Infectious diseases. HIV/AIDS. Dermatology. Surgery. Organ transplantation. Neurology and neurosurgery. Obstetrics and gynecology. Pediatrics. Physical medicine and rehabilitation. Pain. Appendix. Index.