Roger Smyth’s research while affiliated with University of Edinburgh and other places

Covering schizophrenia and related psychoses, this chapter takes the reader through from historical views to diagnosis and differential diagnoses, as well as examination of a patient with psychotic symptoms, presentations, treatment, and management strategies. Also the chapter contains detailed tables of suitable drug choices and their associated indications and contraindications.

This chapter explains how to conduct a psychiatric assessment. Starting with the basics of a clinical interview, including how to arrange a room and take a history, specific observations to look out for in the patient are described in detail. Methods of asking questions about specific psychiatric problems are discussed, including how to broach difficult topics. The physical effects associated with psychiatric disorders are defined, and some common assessment instruments are also featured.

This chapter covers child and adolescent psychiatry. From assessment, develop, resilience, and attachment, normal infant mental health is discussed, followed by an approach to behavioural problems and conduct disorders in the older child. Parent management training is covered, followed by individual disorders and their management in the context of the adolescent and child, from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder to psychosis. Special focus is given to children and young people with intellectual disabilities, child maltreatment, and prescribing differences from adult psychiatry.

This chapter covers the psychotherapies, a collection of treatments for mental disorders which employ language and communication as a means of producing change. It covers assessment and selection of an appropriate method for the individual patient, a history of Freud and other pioneers of psychotherapy to provide a background context, before examining different types of therapy. Briefly explaining the theory of psychotherapy, the phases of psychosexual development, and the object relations theory, it goes into detail on behavioural therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, and solution therapy. Counselling methods are described to aid the reader in developing their skills.

Covering the role of the psychiatrist in forensic situations, from participation in the criminal justice system and legal definitions of crime (including homicide, violence, and sexual offences) to the relationship between mental disorders and offending, this chapter addresses secure hospitals and units, police and court liaison, and the role of the prison psychiatry. Legal provisions and how to give evidence in court are described, and an overview of pathways through the criminal health and justice system for mentally disordered offenders is provided. Fitness to plead and criminal responsibility are both explained.

This chapter introduces ways of thinking about psychiatry, from investigating the question ‘what is disease’ to techniques for diagnosis and treatment and overarching themes of the role of the psychiatrist. With a brief history and a discussion of potential future directions of the discipline, this chapter provides an overview and rationale for the subsequent content.

This chapter defines substance abuse. Splitting up alcohol and other drugs, although recognizing that alcohol is a drug in its own right, it covers dependence, screening, assessment, planning treatment, management of withdrawal, and plans for maintaining abstinence. Also covering tobacco, illegal drugs, and novel psychotropic substances, substitute prescribing, and legal issues, this chapter has a table of street slang associated with drug misuse to aid the reader.

The Oxford Handbook of Psychiatry covers all major psychiatric conditions and sub-specialties, and provides practical and comprehensive guidelines and in-depth coverage of psychiatric assessment, psychopathology, evidence-based practice, therapeutic issues, and transcultural psychiatry.

1. Thinking about psychiatry 2. Psychiatric assessment 3. Symptoms of psychiatric illness 4. Evidence-based psychiatry 5. Organic illness 6. Schizophrenia and related psychoses 7. Depressive illness 8. Bipolar illness 9. Anxiety and stress-related disorders 10. Eating and impulse-control disorders 11. Sleep disorders 12. Sexual disorders 13. Personality disorders 14. Old age psychiatry 15. Substance misuse 16. Child and adolescent psychiatry 17. Forensic psychiatry 18. Learning disability 19. Liaison psychiatry 20. Psychotherapy 21. Legal issues 22. Transcultural psychiatry 23. Therapeutic issues 24. Difficult and urgent situations 25. Useful resources 26. ICD-10/DSM-IV index