Abstract
This useful reference book is divided into four sections: anxiety disorders, major depressive disorders, schizophrenia disorders, dementia disorders and other disorders and special topics.
It is not a book for an interested clinician to ‘just read’ because of its fairly heavy content, but it is a very good, up-to-date book to consult when studying for a postgraduate qualification in mental health, or if looking for new treatment options. Nancy Andreasen's forward sets the scene for why there is a need for a book about women and mental illness. Many of the specific illness chapters do not focus particularly well on gender aspects/ differences apart from quoting gender differences in the prevalence or incidence of various disorders, which detracts from the point of this book.
The highlights of this book include excellent reviews of post partum mood disorders, premenstrual syndromes and Alzheimer's disease research. Sex differences in substance use disorders is comprehensively described with interesting new epidemiology data.
From an Australian perspective, there are several Aussie authors: Castle, Keks, Krapivensky, Tanaghow, Culhane and Hope, which is very heartening. Their efforts do us proud and help to diminish the northern hemisphere dominance from which psychiatric literature suffers.
Of special note, are excellent chapters on serotonin neuronal function in eating disorders and the pharmacological management of psychiatric illness during pregnancy.
This book and others focusing on women's mental health and cognitive behaviours continue to raise clinician's awareness about the ways that women experience stressors and cope with life events – which are often very different from men. Hopefully this book will assist in aiding clinicians to address women's needs better when helping people deal with mental illness.