Current Issues in the Psychopharmacology of Schizophrenia

Abstract

Current Issues in the Psychopharmacology of Schizophrenia Editors: Breier A, Tran PV, Herrera JM, Tollefson GD, Bymaster FP. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Healthcare, Philadelphia, 2001. US$42.95; pp579; ISBN 0-7817-2422-8 This is an excellent book. It is a multi-editor (5 editors), multi-author (63 authors) American book. The outcome is a hard-covered, relatively thick book with 579 pages. Apart from the Introduction and the Index, there are 34 chapters. The contents are presented in 6 sections. Section I is on Basic Pathophysiology, with 4 chapters on Neurotransmitters, Neuroanatomy, Neurodevelopment, and Neuropathology. Section II is about Neurobehavioural Pharmacology, with 6 chapters on Dopamine, Pharmacogenetics, Animal Models, Neuroimaging, Neurophysiology and Psychophysiology, and Neurocognition. Section III is on Second Generation Antipsychotics, with 5 chapters on Clozapine, Olanzapine, Risperidone, Quetiapine, and Sertindole. Section IV is on Novel Therapeutic Strategies, with 5 chapters on Partial Dopamine Agonists, Serotonin, Glutamate, Muscarinic Agonists, and Neuropeptides. Section V is on Clinical Issues, with 8 chapters on Childhood-onset Schizophrenia, Predictors of Schizophrenia, Positive/Negative Symptoms and Beyond, Geriatric Schizophrenia, Long-term Management, Suboptimal Treatment Response, Ethnic Issues, and Pharmacoeconomics. Section VI is on Special Issues, with 6 chapters on Gender Issues, Comorbid Mood Disorders, Dementia in Schizophrenia, Movement Disorders, Psychopharmacology in Japan, and Social Reintegration. The Benefits Comprehensiveness is assured by the wide array of topics that have been chosen, from the basic sciences to clinical issues, from current new drugs to potential future drugs, from pharmacoeconomics to ethnic-cultural issues and finally, ending the book with a chapter on integrating the pharmacological and the non-pharmacological approaches in the management of schizophrenia. The result is a book that appears almost like an encyclopaedia. All the chapters are evidence-based and fully referenced. I am amazed by the amount of recent research that has been done and which had escaped my notice before I read this book. The book certainly conveys an impression that this is the state-of-the-art on this subject. Although a lot of facts remain uncertain, the reader is left with a feeling that all the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle will one day be in place. Despite this, reading through this book need not be particularly laborious because each chapter always starts with something basic before moving to the advanced information. …