Book review: SRRI's in Depression and Anxiety. Edited by Stuart A. Montgomery and Johan A. Den...

BOOK REVIEWS

SRRI's in Depression and Anxiety. Edited by STUARTA. MONTGOMERY and JOHAN A. DEN BOER. Wiley,Chichester, 1998. Price: £45.00. No. of pages: 194.

`SRRI's in Depression and Anxiety' is a multi-authoredtext and is the seventh book in a series looking atperspectives in psychiatry, a series mainly concerned withdepression and its treatment, although this volumebranches out into anxiety disorders. A large area ofanxiety and depression is covered including epidemio-logical and biological aspects, and co-morbidity of thetwo disorders is discussed. In addition, it goes onto lookat the uses of SSRI's in the treatment of both, althoughmuch more attention is paid to anxiety-related condi-tions, including panic disorder, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.It is very much a book of two halves. The ®rst three

chapters cover a lot of theory and are packed with highlyreferenced up to date research information which makesfor an enlightening but certainly not a light read! Iwould recommend dipping in and out of these chapters

but, nevertheless, it is worth persevering as they containa lot of useful and, more to the point, comprehensibleeducational material on such complex topics as di�erenttypes of brain receptors and neurotransmitters, and theirrelevance clinically. The section on neuroimaging studieson various anxiety disorders is particulary interesting,especially for those clinicians like me, who ®nd thiswhole area a mystery.The second half of the book fortunately, while still

being packed with information, is a touch more reader-friendly and reveals many useful hints on the uses ofSSRI's in various anxiety disorders.Overall, I would recommend this book to any clinician

treating anxiety, including trainees as well as consult-ants. Likewise, it is just relevant to those specializing inold age as those in other branches of psychiatry.

DAVE WATSON

Clatterbridge HospitalThe Wirral

CCC 0885±6230/99/050404±02$17.50Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY

Int. J. Geriat. Psychiatry 14, 404±406 (1999)

Organic Psychiatry: The Psychological Consequences ofCerebral Disorder, 3rd edn. WILLIAM ALWYN LISHMAN.Blackwell Science Ltd, 1998. No. of pages: 922.

Organic Psychiatry by Alwyn Lishman is a classictextbook which combines comprehensiveness withprecision. Professor Lishman de®nes organic psychiatryas `those disorders in which there is a high probabilitythat appropriate examination and investigation willuncover some cerebral or systematic pathology respon-sible for, or contributing signi®cantly to, the mentalcondition'. Readers will not be surprised therefore to®nd that this edition is a signi®cantly expanded versionof its predecessors. One of the main reasons for thisexpansion is that the book now includes the mainadvances in cellular biology, molecular genetics andbrain imaging which have attempted to elucidate someof the basic mechanisms underlying the organicdisorders described. Its comprehensive coverage ofmaterial is re¯ected by the fact that the references takeup over a tenth of the book. Professor Lishman hasfollowed his previous format by dividing the book intoprinciples and speci®c disorders. Under principlesare described the main clinical features of cerebral dis-order, their clinical assessment and di�erential diagnosisas well as more detailed and recent advances in under-standing brain pathology. Speci®c disorders are

described in a characteristically systematic way. Atevery point an attempt is made to put the condition inits historical context and update our knowledge withadvances in its understanding. Clinical descriptions suchas those on schizophrenia are supplemented withexamples from neuroimaging studies including thoseusing the very latest techniques such as functionalmagnetic resonance imaging. The current theories onschizophrenia are reviewed succinctly. The section onclinical investigations has been expanded to includeadvances in event-related potentials, BEAM, MEGand MRI. If anything lacks here it is perhaps a sectionon the clinical applicability of the techniques. Atthe beginning are some interesting colour plateswith examples from neuroimaging studies, histologicalsections and postmortem material. It would have beenadvantageous to have more of these illustrationsthroughout the book, particularly as the conditions aredescribed so prominently in the text.The section on head injuries has been expanded to

include medicolegal aspects which some readers may ®ndhelpful in their clinical practice. The section on epilepsyhas included updated neuroimaging studies and some ofthe newer drug therapies. Infections has been expanded toinclude more up-to-date psychological and social e�ectsof AIDS and its treatment. There are expanded sectionson chronic fatigue syndrome and the section on dementia