The Perspectives of Psychiatry [Paperback]

Paul R. McHugh (Author), Phillip R. Slavney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0801860466 | ISBN-13: 978-0801860461 | Edition: 2nd

Substantially revised to include a wealth of new material, the second edition of this highly acclaimed work provides a concise, coherent introduction that brings structure to an increasingly fragmented and amorphous discipline. Paul R. McHugh and Phillip R. Slavney offer an approach that emphasizes psychiatry's unifying concepts while accommodating its diversity. Recognizing that there may never be a single, all-encompassing theory, the book distills psychiatric practice into four explanatory methods: diseases, dimensions of personality, goal-directed behaviors, and life stories. These perspectives, argue the authors, underlie the principles and practice of all psychiatry. With an understanding of these fundamental methods, readers will be equipped to organize and evaluate psychiatric information and to develop a confident approach to practice and research.

Praise for the original edition:

"This brilliant book illuminates psychiatry more clearly than any other work I know.... This is the best (and the shortest) single volume on psychiatry that anyone could read." -- New England Journal of Medicine

"Every psychiatry department, regardless of ideology, should build a course around this... work. Open-mindedness might become fashionable." -- Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

"An elegantly reasoned and eloquently written book that enriches our understanding of clinical events.... [It provides] an opportunity to open our eyes to new possibilities." -- Hospital and Community Psychiatry

Editorial Reviews

Review

I know many physicians who would like their own liaison psychiatrist in their pocket (in more ways than one). Those who work at Johns Hopkins now have just that. This book comprises the portable advice of the Johns Hopkins Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine to help physicians with some of the commonest psychiatric issues they encounter.

(Eleanor Feldman Psychological Medicine )

A very informative text that does an excellent job of introducing to some and presenting to others effective approaches to psychiatric and neurological symptoms... Provides practical, time friendly, concepts that would be usable after only the first read.

(M. Ojinga Harrison, M.D. Journal of Psychosomatic Research )

About the Author

Paul R. McHugh, M.D., is Henry Phipps Professor and Director in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Phillip R. Slavney, M.D., is Eugene Meyer III Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 2nd edition (October 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801860466
• ISBN-13: 978-0801860461
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterful Coherent Synthesis of Psychiatry, September 11, 2000

By 

James Potash (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Perspectives of Psychiatry (Paperback)

The field of psychiatry may at first appear bewildering. People are complicated. The variety of ways in which thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can go awry are plentiful. The history of psychiatry has seen a number of attempts at reductionism in the face of this complexity, most notably that of the psychoanalytic school, the behaviorists, and the biological psychiatrists. These monolithic viewpoints have each distorted psychiatry, emphasizing some important features of mental life and its abnormalities while giving short shrift to others. Further the acrimony between adherents of these schools have left psychiatric trainees as well as the general public uncertain of what to believe about the nature of mental illness. In this book Drs. McHugh and Slavney have done a masterful job of making clear what we know in psychiatry and how we know it. Paul McHugh has been chairman of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins from 1977-2000; Phillip Slavney was director of residency training in the Hopkins psychiatry department for most of that time, and now directs consultation psychiatry there. Their book describes four perspectives of psychiatry, or ways of seeing disturbance of mental life, and shows how each is especially illuminating for particular types of psychiatric issues. The disease perspective is most useful for explaining major mental illnesses such as dementia, schizophrenia,and bipolar disorder. It is the most clearly biological, and invokes medications for treatment and laboratory methods for research. The life story perspective is most useful for a person who has suffered a setback and is demoralized. It emphasizes the uniqueness of each individual and the meaning that people's experiences have for them. The behavioral perspective concerns things people do that get them into trouble. Drug and alcohol abuse are the most common of these, but eating disorders and sexual disorders are included as well. Treatment in this perspective prioritizes stopping bad behaviors over understanding them. The dimensional perspective looks at the vulnerabilities that people have as a result of their lifelong traits. These vulnerabilities may arise out cognitive limitations or out of features of personality such as being impulsive or being a worrier. McHugh and Slavney draw on both their vast knowledge of the literature of psychiatry, psychology, and neuroscience, and their long experience of evaluating and treating patients in order to make the case for their perspectival approach to the field. They succeed impressively, I think, for two reasons. One reason is that the approach is such an intelligent and sensible one. The other reason is that they have had the benefit of 15 years between the first edition of their book and this second edition. Major changes and additions were made between the two and the result is greater clarity, especially in the opening chapters, as well as a fuller discussion of themes that were only touched on in the original edition. For example, new chapters were written in the behavioral perspective section on suicide and on hysteria. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand where psychiatry stands today. But more than that, it is essential because it makes clear on what psychiatry stands, i.e. what sets of reasoning have gotten us where we are. With this clarity the path towards new insights and new discoveries becomes navigable. In short, this book is a gem.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, Top Notch, December 12, 2007

By 

Rustin Berlow "highestself" (San Diego) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Perspectives of Psychiatry (Paperback)

This book is unlike any other. It represents the accumulated wisdom and understanding of two sensitive and intelligent psychiatrists who were in the position of teaching often skeptical Johns Hopkins medical students. These students are among the smartest and able individuals in the country - most of them were not going into psychiatry and had a variable amount of interest and respect for it. The authors were therefore in the position of presenting their chosen field to a challenging audience.
This book represents their masterful response. Four separate perspectives are presented, Disease, Dimension, Behavior and Narrative.
The combination of creativity and intellectual integrity make it a delightful and worthwhile experience for anyone in psychiatry. The persuasive power of it's ideas make it an essential book for anyone who teaches intelligent medical students or even residents and psychologists in training.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The rational basis of Psychiatry, November 5, 2006

By 

Dr. James Willis - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Perspectives of Psychiatry (Paperback)

Paul Mc Hugh continues his practice of writing prose that delights and informs .The Perspectives of Psychiatry should be read by every trainee psychiatrist and anyone else with an interest in what are called the Behavioral Sciences .I found it hard to put down .I particularly liked the respect accorded to the phenomonology of psychiatric disorder - something of which 99% of contemporary pscyhiatrists know little and no doubt care less : being preoccupied with risk assessment never helps. The chapter on Schizophrenia is exemplary.The work gets my vote .
James H Willis FRCP