DSM Reviews

I'm not a psychology major, so I was a little anxious when I signed up for Abnormal psych (a pre-requisite for the Nursing curriculum). My nervousness was soon allayed after reading the first few pages. The writing style is easy to read, with all the important terms and concepts in the bold print that professeurs love to put on tests. Halgin and Whitbourne even try to make it a little interesting by placing "Mini Case Studies" throughout the chapters to display theory application. A definite addition to a beginning psychologist's collection.

This book (and its companion "The Difficult Patient") are highly readable and very rewarding. As a practicing psychiatrist using it to prepare for the oral boards, I can tell you that I learned many things -- both practical tips and theoretical insights. I had originally thought these two books were "filler" by the APP to capitalize on the release of DSM-IV, but boy was I wrong! It is an absolute winner in its own right, regardless of the publisher. Thank you, Drs. Othmer, for these magnificent contributions to education in the field of psychiatry.

Equiped with virtually every bit of information that humans have studied on the subject of mental disorders. Any questions that a person might have aobout psychological mental disorders this books will most likely be able to answer them.

If you work with the DSM codes, you will find this book very helpful. The clinical examples are useful and help you learn the codes in a way that helps you retain the information.

You can use this book to train yourself or train a group in the appropriate coding for mental health professionals. It is well written, easy to understand and helps you understand the multiaxial rating systems. '

If you use DSMs in your work life or are planning to, I recommend highly you get this book.

This is an essential companion to the DSM IV Diagnostic Manual. It makes it easy to better understand the different Axis classifications with many different case studies.

This book is considered a very good intruduction for " personality disorders" from the DSM point of view. Its very readable, illustrated with mnemonics, cartoon examples, media examples , more over it uses humer a an educational tool. It could be considered as an appetizer, rather than a comprehensive refrence in this area. I would recommend it for medical students , residents and mental health workers. It can be helpful for non medical people intrested to know more than personality disorders.

This is a complete and conscientious manual for child and adolescent psychiatric diagnoses and protocals. It is adequately detailed and simple to navigate. Editorial comments are are brief and only applied to variations from past criteria or concepts. Spectrum disorders, for example- autistic and bi-polar receive more details. Several changes stand out; a personality diagnosis may be used for an adolescent; the return of the use of adjustment disorder, anti-social personality may only apply to adult functioning, and the continuous ambiguity of ODD. I will add my own frustrations with the academic disorders- they keep changing the name- which means very little to the practitioner. As a training guide it offers a concise and organized sequence that should be highly useful as an adjunt to internship experiences.
Included are lists of evaluations and short, published scales that I found useful and some elaboration on co-morbid conditions.
The authors prefer the Children's Manifest Anxiety and School Age Depression Inventory over more common ones.Instead of the GAF- they suggest the Children's Global Assesment Scale and that it is AXIS IV. It's a useful and slender volume that has many purposes.

Play on words notwithstanding, Dr. Dziegielewski's book provides valuable insight into the "mindset" of the DSM-IV-TR.

She presents a balanced approach and practicl guide to in-depth applications of diagnostice and therapeutic consideraations for a number of issues found in the DSM-Iv-TR.

Dr. D is an expert in this field, frequently holding workshops on how to use the DSM. This book is thorough, logical, practical, and necessary. For even though one may have philosophical differences w/the DSM (and Dr. D addresses these in her book), the DSM is still the "tool of choice" for mental health professionals for diagnosis, assessing, and treating clients.

I've resisted the dreary study of diagnostic categories for years. I was delighted to find a book on psychopathology that brought the diagnostic categories to life. Rather than placing troubled souls in little boxes, this book integrates the Adlerian theory of lifestyle. I now have a clearer picture of how a client's mistaken beliefs can lead him/her in the direction of a diagnostic category. With this book as an enjoyable, readible foundation, I can now brave the ever so tedious DSM IV. Thank-you so much. Jill Fitzgerald, MSW

This is a wonderful book. The authors are clearly excellent clinicians who have made the DSM-IV accessible to mental health providers. Their critique of the history and development of the DSM is suberb, and their chapter on cross-cultural assessment is a gem. A must read for all mental health providers.