The Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry

This book is the essential guide for anyone responsible for prescribing, dispensing or administering drugs for patients with mental health disorders. All the evidence has been reviewed and summarised succinctly by an expert team of psychiatrists and pharmacists. The evidence base for drug treatments in psychiatry ranges from meta-analyses and randomised controlled clinical trials to single case reports, from NICE guidelines to individual SPCs. Where to look for information when transferring a patient from one drug to another or when dealing with a complex patient (for example, with co-morbid epilepsy or liver disease or HIV infection)? The Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines are established as the leading clinical relevant reference for handling complex prescribing problems and for formulating prescribing policy. This new edition makes greater use of tables and boxes to facilitate quick reference and includes new sections on cytochrome-mediated interactions, psychiatric side effects of non-psychotropic drugs and on GBL and GHB dependence. Chapters cover plasma monitoring, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety, children and adolescents, substance misuse and special patient groups. Each section has a full reference list. The book covers prescribing drugs outside their licensed indications and their interaction with substances such as alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. Trainees will gain important information regarding the rational, safe and effective use of medications for patients with mental illness. Experienced clinicians will find excellent guidance regarding more complex issues that they may not encounter regularly. Praise for previous editions: I would regard this book as mandatory for any pharmacist directly involved in the care of patients with a psychiatric diagnosis, be they primary or secondary care-based. The Pharmaceutical Journal An excellent book and a 'must' for practising psychiatrists? not only will the rational prescribing of psychotropic drugs drastically improve but, more importantly, the patient will certainly benefit. Human Psychopharmacology