Books like Handbook of Clinical Psychopharmacology for Therapists

Before I lavish praise on this book, first let me make a disclaimer: the information packed into this tome is astonishing - not to mention extremely informative. However, it is what is says: clinical. And therefore quite daunting. So as such, I'm really not actually 'recommending' that anyone run out and buy this book, because (1) the price tag is $60, and (2) you have to really, really want to know about this stuff; which I did. Happily there wasn't a single page that disappointed me! You could open this book to any random spot a couple days a week, and become amazingly enlightened each time. So having made that disclaimer, I can now say that this is truly an incredible book and worth the $60. I would justifiably call it the 'bible' for clinical mental illness. Here's my feeble attempt at why: Firmly rooted in standards set in the DSM-IV, the book starts off with a primer on pharmacology and neurobiology, which is a small book unto itself. You could stop right there and be completely satisfied. It then moves successively through an in-depth, chapter by chapter discourse of all mental illnesses, using various pharmacological models and how they've been applied to given case studies. Having covered all that ground, the second half of the book then moves into the pros and cons of every form of psychotropic medication being used today in the field of clinical psychiatry (mood stabilizers, old and new antidepressants, antipsychotics, etc.) I'm leaving out so many things, but even if you just read the many sidebars that are sprinkled generously throughout this book, you would gain seriously invaluable knowledge. Let me also say that this book is not just about taking pills. The pills don't do any good if you don't know what they are, how they work, and how to use them with a concerted program of therapy and education. That's what this book can give you. This is a very important and complex field, and I have found that educating the people who have these illnesses can be the crucial difference between a successful recovery and failure.If you want to understand the hard-core science - and I mean hard-core science - behind bipolar disorders, personality disorders, psychotic disorders, et al, (and you should if you are close to anyone who suffers from these conditions), this book may allow you to save someone's life; someone who never would have dreamed you knew about all this.I bought this book (3rd Edition) as soon as I saw it, and although that was in 2002, it is not ‘outdated’ by any stretch of the imagination. There is a 4th Edition published in 2004 that includes a "new chapter on medicine and children." I would assume mostly in response to fears that popped up a few years back concerning children and the use of these very powerful - and admittedly somewhat unpredictable - medications.