Customer Reviews

The American Psychiatric Publishing Board Review Guide for Psychiatry (Concise Guides)

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When I purchased this book i had in mind a reference with American psychiatric association practice as core content, unfortunately for a book with its huge size .. (really huge) it didn't have all the information of a reference text book nor it has the organization and concise data of a review book. the good thing though, is the frequent referral to catie study and its results.

This book by Bourgeois et al. is not useful at all if the buyer's intention is to succeed in the MOC exam in Psychiatry. It is written in a haphazard fashion. Some topics are given too much space and others are on the border of being neglected. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to this selective pattern. That makes this book cumbersome to read and almost useless if the reason for this purchase is to prepare for the MOC exam in Psychiatry. This relatively hefty book (966 pages including Questions) fails to meet standards to be used as a reference or a text book. For the same reason it also cannot be utilized as a concise study guide for the aforementioned exam purpose. In my view the Kaplans' "Synopsis of Psychiatry" is still the book that merits serious consideration if the need is for an abridged but adequate alternative to a comprehensive, multi-volume reference text book. For MOC exams preparation something like the "Focus Psychiatry Review" by Drs. Hales and Rapaport is an excellent choice. This choice is significantly cheaper, shorter, to the point, and covers all the topics that are included in the MOC exams. Moreover, the "Focus Psychiatry Review" allocates its space commensurate with the general content outline of MOC exam in Psychiatry. The 40 category A CME credit hours that can be obtained from the "Focus Psychiatry Review" is an added bonus to a very useful tool for success in the Psychiatry MOC exam.

The book by Bourgeois et al. may have some use for initial certification exam in Psychiatry. It has few very well written chapters (e.g., Chapter 30, "Psychopharmacology" and especially Chapter 33, "Cognitive Therapy"). However in my view the Kaplans' "Synopsis of Psychiatry" remains the gold standard.

Bottom Line: The book "Board Review Guide for Psychiatry" by Dr. Bourgeois et al., is not a prudent use of money and time if the intended purpose of the purchase is to prepare and succeed in the MOC exam in Psychiatry.