Essentials of Psychosomatic Medicine

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.