Customer Reviews

Essential Psychopharmacology: Neuroscientific Basis and Practical Applications (Essential Psychopharmacology Series)

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More than one professor with whom I have worked have called Stahl their "hero." Although some professionals disagree with some of his assertions, I have not spoken to one colleague who hasn't been impressed by his insights and ability to present information in a clear fashion. Even if you find other books on psychopharmacology that you like better, you can't go wrong with getting Stahl's perspective on the topic. If you are very serious minded, then his diagrams might seem a little "cutesy" at times. However, for visual learners his diagrams highlight neurological mechanisms so you can get a clear picture in your mind about different mechanisms of action. Obviously, these physiological mechanisms are not as simplistic as drawn, but the drawings give the reader a clearer picture of what he is writing about. If you are serious about learning the essentials of psychopharmacology, then this is a great book to read.

This is one of the best books ever in psychopharmacology. Not only that it's written in a clear way and with much authority, it's also very entertaining. The tables and figures are effective in simplifying the complexity of the neural circuitry. Awesome text!

Almost all of us might feel that the psychopharmacology is complex and difficult to understand.But this book solves the problems.A lot of figures help us understand the psychopharmacology easily. I think that this book is essential to anyone who is interested in psychopharmacology.Illustrations in this book are clear and impressive. After reading this book the psychiatrists will be able to visualize the figures in this book when they treat the patients.For example if they treat a depressed patient,they will be able to visualize some figures in this book.One of them might be serotonergic projections from raphe to frontal cortex.Another might be monoamine receptor hypothesis of depression.This visualization make them understand deeply why they prescreibe the SSRIs for depressed patients.The visualization of the figures will be the good method for approaching the treatment.It will be the good method for diagnosing complex symptoms too.Psychiatrists should do not only thinking but also visualizing what is going on within the nervous system. And they should visualize during not only facing this book but also facing patients. Such practices of the visualization will help them understand deeply about psychopharmacological basis of psychotic state.I think such practice (bedside visualization)is the practice of Essential Psychopharmacology. And I think doing this practice will improve the quality of psychiatric treatment.How high quality this book is!

I just finished an introductory course on psychopharmacology and I studied the book the way it is advised: first go through all the images and then go thgrough the text and the images. I must say it was very effective and very easy to memorize most of the information. Bonus on top of that is the fact that the images (and the text at some points) are very funny :-)

Psychopharmocology easy to do badly and very difficult to do well. As a second year psychiatry resident in 1999 I thought this book was awesome - psych meds made easy, with neat pictures, and cool names like "California Rocket Fuel." Now that I practice general psychiatry in the community I realize that this book is misleading and potentially dangerous. One, it oversimplifies the neurobiology of psychotropics - although that is not all that serious a problem. More importantly, it encourages approaching real treatment decisions by thinking about neurotransmitters, not the REAL source of any actual knowledge we have about how these meds work - clinical trials. The result is that I have seen many prescribers think about tweaking chemical or treating each symptom with a different med, frequently leading to expensive and often dangerous polypharmacy. For a cartoon-like overview for a non prescribing practitioner, this is an entertaining but inaccurate introduction to psychopharm; for someone who will actually use this to guide their prescribing - your patients deserve better.

Stahl's book "Essential Psychopharmacology: Neuroscientific Basis and practical Applications" is a fantastic book! It is lucid, simple, jargon free with fabulous illustrations.
The simplicity and the clarity of his style are brilliant!
He is one of the few psychiatrists that appear to have a considerable grasp on neuroscience and understands more that the prescription pad and the five minutes drive-by visit that psychiatrists provide to their patients. That in return has rendered their field into a pit-stop for drive-by prescriptions.
I only hope that Stahl is truly independent of the pharmaceutical companies and is not influenced by their erratic studies and corrupt system. Unfortunately, most psychiatrists do not keep up with the latest developments in the field as Stahl appears to do. They have abandoned psychotherapy, and have become compliant agents of the pharmaceutical companies in order to make a good living. This type of ethics has converted them into an extinct dinosaurs drowning into an eroding profession.
Kudos to Stahl on a marvelous book!!

Very good book. I'm not a native american (I'm brasilian), and my english is not so good. But, I could read and understand everything.

If you are a beginning a psychiatry or neurology residency this book is an aboslute must. You will be ripping it off for presentation diagrams and figures for years to come.

This is an excellent book for MOST. Whether you are an intern/resident , as I am, in primary care, or in private practice this book is great for not only learning the material for the first time or just refreshing the material while in practice. His recommendation to read the book the first time by just looking at the pictures and reading the captions with them is an excellent start for any physician. Those needing more advanced learning can read the text as well a second time. And for those still wanting to go a step further, stephen stahl has talks around the country to attend; at these he goes into even more detail.
This is not for an advanced researcher who has been researching/practicing for many years. But for the other 80-90% of us it is a great book.

I am a Masters Degree student in counseling and was introduced to Stahl's writings in a Counseling and Physiology course taught by an M.D. This book provides color diagrams with very lucid descriptions and explanations of how various chemical substances impact brain functioning. I bought the second edition because of the price difference but for my application this edition is more than sufficient. I wanted to understand the action of drugs (licit and illicit) at the level of neurotransmission in the brain. I also wanted to better understand the physiological aspects of phychological disorders such as bipolar. There is an entire chapter dedicated to depression and bipolar disorders.

While I do not subscribe to the "disease" model prevelant in biological psychiatry today I wanted to gain a better understanding of the alleged "chemical imbalance" often mentioned by people suffering from psychological disorders or by others who want to label a reason for the symptons they observe in loved ones. Having said that, there is no question that we are composed of cells and neurons that participate in neurochemical interactions that affect what goes on in our brain which in turn produces certain bodily and pshychological outcomes. This book provides answers to the questions of how all of that works as well as how medications work in treating symptoms of psychological disorders and addictions to substances.

David Bradford
Atlanta, USA