Handbook of Essential Psychopharmacology

Handbook of Essential Psychopharmacology

Pies RW

Washington: American Psychiatric Press; 1998. 416 pp. with index

ISBN 0-88048-765-8

This concise, slim, well-edited paperback review of essential psychopharmacology is divided into 4 chapters, on antidepressants, anti-psychotics, anxiolytics and sedative-hypnotics, and mood stabilizers, including novel anticonvulsants. Each chapter begins with an overview that includes drug class indications, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, common side effects, drug interactions, augmentation strategies, and use in special populations, such as pregnant women, the elderly, and develop-mentally disabled patients. Each chapter ends with a series of well-selected, clinically relevant questions, along with answers and a case discussion that illustrate and clarify various teaching points.

The chapter on antidepressants is a general review of the literature in that area. I often hear residents expressing their concern about the inability to keep up with the number of new antidepressants being introduced into our pharmacopoeia. It is also not uncommon to meet residents who, in their final years of training, have yet to prescribe or be familiar with the frequent clinical challenges in using tricyclic antidepressants or monoamine oxidase inhibitors. This chapter provides a user-friendly review of the newer agents and also the “older” classes of antidepressants. The author succeeds in assembling the information in a way that is not information overload and yet is academically and clinically useful, particularly for residents. This is made possible in part by the author’s careful use of various tables, which compare clinical issues such as off-label indication, neurotransmitter effects, side effects and their basic management, drug-drug interactions, and therapeutic drug monitoring.

The chapter on antipsychotics provides the reader with a concise, comparative review of conventional and atypical antipsychotics. Tables illustrate comparative mechanisms of action and side effects, along with strategies for antipsychotic potentiation. This latter issue is something clinicians are often faced with, particularly in patients who cannot tolerate or respond poorly to antipsychotics, including the newer atypicals. The question section deals with disparate clinical areas, and has a very good review of neuroleptic malignant syndrome.

The chapter on sedative-hypnotics and anxiolytics has several useful charts, such as a diazepam equivalency chart, a chart of clinical indications, and a table on the off-label uses for clonidine and β-blockers.

The final chapter, on mood stabilizers, has a clinically relevant review of lithium, valproate and carbamazepine. The author has included an up-to-date review of gabapentin and lamotrigine and their potential interactions with other commonly used psychiatric medicines.

As a psychiatric educator, I was very pleased with the question-and-answer section in this book. In fact, I have yet to come across a similar psychiatric textbook that effectively asks well-selected clinically relevant questions and provides the reader with practical answers. I do like how the author began by providing the basic informational background to these various compounds, followed by questions forcing the reader to “work” the information, and rounding up with a practical case to apply this new-found knowledge.

I found the graphs, diagrams and tables very useful, and very good complements to the written material, often clarifying the concepts presented. The large print of the text is very easy to read. The information is presented in a systematic way and includes extensive references to the literature for those interested in pursuing more knowledge on the topics.

Dr. Pies’ book is intended to be a “micropedia” for residents and busy clinicians. I see it as a very useful, helpful teaching textbook and resource for its intended audience. Psychiatric psychopharmacology has had a history of being somewhat limited by the absence of clearly established evidence-based algorhythmic approaches to treatment. That being said, there have recently been useful treatment guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, among others. The author may wish to incorporate some of these reviews in future work. Overall, I congratulate the author and recommend this text.