Abstract
As part of a series of concise, examination-orientated texts for medical students, I found this book to be a sound, succinct and user-friendly overview of psychiatry. The first two chapters on signs and symptoms of mental illness and the psychiatric assessment were particularly good, making excellent use of clinical vignettes of dialogue to illustrate history-taking techniques with comments also on the process and purpose of the clinician's line of questioning. A range of clinical situations are illustrated including interviewing an anxious and agitated patient in need of reassurance and a carefully probing interview to clarify aspects of phenomenology.
Main areas of psychiatry are covered in brief chapters. The book makes heavy use of boxes and tables. I think this format will suit the style of learning of many medical students and presents psychiatry in a no-nonsense, practical fashion. Chapters have learning objectives and self-assessment questions.
The book highlights the main areas of psychiatry but would not represent a sufficiently comprehensive text for a psychiatry clinical placement on its own. However, many students may find the first two chapters useful prereading and the remainder a useful guide in organizing their examination preparation.
As a teacher of undergraduate psychiatry, I found some very useful summaries of difficult-to-teach areas in clear tabular form. An example is a table on the dimensions of delusional experience with follow-up multiple choice questions about the nature of delusions. I found the book to cover many of the frequently asked medical student questions and it is clear that the authors have considerable experience in teaching undergraduate psychiatry. Those who teach medical students may find this book worth a look. It may also be a useful revision tool for first year psychiatry trainees. There are an unfortunate number of typographical errors but overall it is a well-presented, concise summary of our discipline.