Phillip R. Slavney

In this companion volume to their widely acclaimed Perspectives of Psychiatry, Phillip R. Slavney, M.D., and Paul R. McHugh, M.D., argue that the discontinuity of brain and mind is the source of much of psychiatry's discord, for it leads psychiatrists to think about their discipline in terms of polar opposites: conscious or unconscious; explanation or understanding; paternalism or autonomy. Psychiatric Polarities brings together the history of ideas and such clinical issues as suicide and bipolar disorder to identify, describe, and debate these and other polar oppositions that arise from psychiatry's inherent ambiguity. There is no single conceptual perspective that is sufficient for all of psychiatry's concerns, Slavney and McHugh observe, yet it is both possible and necessary to transcend the denominational conflicts that plague the field. In Psychiatric Polarities, their examination of these conflicts demonstrates how a methodological approach can help to resolve disagreements rooted in partisan commitments.

The Perspectives approach to psychiatry focuses on four aspects of psychiatric practice and research: disease, dimensional, behavior, and lifestory. In Systematic Psychiatric Evaluation, Drs. Margaret S. Chisolm and Constantine G. Lyketsos underscore the benefits of this approach, showing how it improves clinicians' abilities to evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients. Drs. Chisolm and Lyketsos use increasingly complex case histories to help the mental health provider evaluate patients demonstrating symptoms of bipolar disorder, psychosis, suicidal ideation, depression, eating disorders, and cutting, among other conditions. The book also includes an exercise that simulates the Perspectives approach side by side with traditional methods, revealing the advantages of a method that engages not one but four points of view. Featuring a foreword by Drs. Paul R. McHugh and Phillip R. Slavney, the originators of the Perspectives approach, this innovative book will be used in psychiatric training programs as well as by practicing mental health clinicians.

"The Perspectives" approach to psychiatry focuses on four aspects of psychiatric practice and research: disease, dimensional, behavior, and lifestory. In "Systematic Psychiatric Evaluation", Drs. Margaret S. Chisolm and Constantine G. Lyketsos underscore the benefits of this approach-showing how it improves clinicians' abilities to evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients. Drs. Chisolm and Lyketsos use increasingly complex case histories to help the mental health provider evaluate patients demonstrating symptoms of bipolar disorder, psychosis, suicidal ideation, depression, eating disorders, and cutting, among other conditions. The book also includes an exercise that simulates the "Perspectives" approach side by side with traditional methods, revealing the advantages of a method that engages not one but four points of view. Featuring a foreword by Drs. Paul R. McHugh and Phillip R. Slavney, the originators of the "Perspectives" approach, this innovative book will be used in psychiatric training programs as well as by practicing mental health clinicians.

Many psychiatry residents and other mental health trainees begin their careers as psychotherapists with a mixture of enthusiasm and apprehension: enthusiasm at the prospect of using only words and actions to help someone in distress; apprehension about whether they are capable of doing it. In his latest book, Phillip R. Slavney helps these students get started by discussing such fundamental issues as what makes psychotherapy work, what is important in a psychotherapeutic relationship, and whether psychotherapists should have their own psychotherapy. Slavney draws on his long experience as a psychotherapist and teacher of psychotherapy in a confidence-building book that is both practical and scholarly.

Many psychiatry residents and other mental health trainees begin their careers as psychotherapists with a mixture of enthusiasm and apprehension: enthusiasm at the prospect of using only words and actions to help someone in distress; apprehension about whether they are capable of doing it. In his latest book, Phillip R. Slavney helps these students get started by discussing such fundamental issues as what makes psychotherapy work, what is important in a psychotherapeutic relationship, and whether psychotherapists should have their own psychotherapy. Slavney draws on his long experience as a psychotherapist and teacher of psychotherapy in a confidence-building book that is both practical and scholarly.

Substantially revised to include a wealth of new material, the second edition of this highly acclaimed work provides a concise, coherent introduction that brings structure to an increasingly fragmented and amorphous discipline. Paul R. McHugh and Phillip R. Slavney offer an approach that emphasizes psychiatry's unifying concepts while accommodating its diversity. Recognizing that there may never be a single, all-encompassing theory, the book distills psychiatric practice into four explanatory methods: diseases, dimensions of personality, goal-directed behaviors, and life stories. These perspectives, argue the authors, underlie the principles and practice of all psychiatry. With an understanding of these fundamental methods, readers will be equipped to organize and evaluate psychiatric information and to develop a confident approach to practice and research.

In this book, Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Phillip R. Slavney, M.D., offers a concise guide that will help primary-care physicians evaluate and treat patients who are delirious, demoralized, thinking of suicide, or refusing to follow medical advice. Although these patients exhibit emotional distress, cognitive disturbance, or maladaptive behavior, the cause of the problem is often their medical illness and treatment. For that reason, many such patients can receive excellent care from their own physicians-physicians who, given the resistance of managed care companies to specialist referrals, must now bear that responsibility in any event. After an introductory chapter on clinical assessment, Slavney discusses each of these common problems as it occurs in the clinical setting, with illustrative cases and specific advice about evaluation and treatment. "Dr. Slavney has written lucidly and carefully about these very important issues, clarifying his exposition through a series of case examples. This book should be enormously useful not only to students and house staff but also to practicing physicians and faculty, especially those making the rounds on clinical services. One wishes, in fact, that it were possible to have Dr. Slavney along on rounds; this volume is a useful move in that direction."-Jeremiah A. Barondess, M.D., from the foreword