Psychiatric Emergencies

John Chapman Urbaitis

Norwalk, Apple-ton-Century-Crofts

1983. x + 166 pp.

This small volume dealing with psychiatric emergencies is one of many such compilations, but has its own particular merits. One of these is its brevity. Emergency management requires the clear grasping of specific principles, unencumbered by more or less remotely related data which may safely be left for less immediate attention. The language of this treatise is what it should be considering the nature of its subject matter. Concision, pithiness, and solid substance are its meritorious attributes.

The orderly presentation of topics to be considered characterizes this book. It contains what it should and omits the nonessential.

Anyone who has worked in a psychiatric admitting office or emergency room will appreciate the author’s directives for procedure. Some pathologic conditions have been omitted or alluded to only in generalizations, but the book is not intended to be encyclopedic.

One appreciates the author’s emphasis on general medical procedures and neurologic diagnostic problems. Such conditions are always prominent in psychiatric emergencies, and their accurate diagnosis may make the difference between life and death.

The volume is to be recommended to all medical personnel required to deal with these disorders. It reminds us to bear in mind the admonition of Sir William Osier as to the necessity of equanimity for every physician.