Customer Reviews

High-Yield™ Psychiatry (High-Yield Series)

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Since a coin has 2 sides, this book has its good features and drawbacks. All in all, I advise to read it as a review book.

GOOD features of this book include:

1. The info are presented in an outline format for quick reading.

2. Patient snapshots to provide clinical scenarios.

3. It covers most important aspects of any subject (but not all).

4. You can answer say 75% of the NBME exam, the other 25% can be achieved through discussion of many cases in the ward focussing on the management, and further readings from different book(s).

DRAWBACKS include:

1. No index!!

2. Very important subjects, which come frequently in the exam, are not discussed e.g. Suicide & Deliberate Self-Harm (DSH), Puerperal psychiatric disorders, psychiatric aspects of epilepsy.

3. Many significant subjects were mentioned briefly though they come frequently in the NBME exam e.g. some child psychiatric disorders, bipolar disorders (even the clinical features of mania are not clearly mentioned!!). Concerning abused substances, signs & symptoms of their use & withdrawal are put in a memorizable rather than undertandable way, that's why I had to read from Lippincott's Pharmacology to understand their mechanism of action in order to predict the clinical features. Furthermore, alcohol abuse is discussed briefly, despite its great significance!

4. DSM-IV criteria for some disorders are not fully mentioned. That's why you might notice yourself missing important points in a case-scenario question.

5. I wish there could be a chapter on Genetics, to recapitulate & emphasize the genetic bases of psychiatric disorders.

There are 30 chapters which include: Classification of Psychiatric Disorders, The Clinical Interview & Mental status, Diagnostic Tests, Normal Child Development & Attention-Deficit & Disruptive Behavior Disorders, Childhood Mental Disorders, "Aging, Geriatric Psychiatry, Death & Bereavement", Child & Adult Abuse & Neglect, Normal Sleep & Sleep Disorders, Cognitive Disorders, Substance-related Disorders, Schizophrenia, Other Psychotic Disorders, Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, "Somatoform Disorders, Facticious Disorders, & Malingering", Sexual & Gender Identity Disorders, Obesity & Eating Disorders, Impulse-Control Disorders, Adjustment Disorders, Personality Disorders, Psychosomatic Medicine, Medication-Induced Psychiatric Symptoms, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis & Related Therapies, Behavioral & Cognitive Therapies, "Group, Family, & Marital Therapies", Legal Issues in Psychiatry & Medicine, Ethical Issues in Psychiatry & Medicine.

This High Yield book is better then most of the books in the High Yield series. It has a clear and quick reading format but is not simply a long outline. It got me through 1st and 2nd year psych courses in med school. Great for Step1 too!

Barbara Fadem has done it again! As with her High-Yield Behavioral Science, this book is an excellent review of the major topics in Psychiatry. This book is suitable for both Board preparation and also for a quick refresher course. Medical students and practioners alike will find this a useful and easily readable review.

This book is all that you need to pass the psychiatry shelf exam. It is short and to the point with high yield points.