Management of Complex Treatment-resistant Psychotic Disorders

Actually really useful book, well written and addresses issues that come up. Some parts are academic but could be quite practical in other settings

Dr. Cummings is a brilliant psychiatrist and to my mind one of the clearest and best psychopharmacology educators. This book is invaluable for anyone interested or otherwise clinically invested in the realm of treatment-resistant psychosis.

I would read anything Dr. Cummings writes. This man is pure gold for the early career psychiatrist looking to separate themselves from the pack. He has in-depth knowledge of treatment resistant psychotic disorders, a strong understanding of the psychopharmacology, and deep understanding of the context/history of medication design. If you work in the inpatient setting like I do, these cases are commonplace. We are always looking for solutions to complex treatment resistant psychotic disorders. This book will help you make management decisions that are evidence based and improve clinical outcomes. Each chapter is organized well, and not too long for the busy clinician.

There are only 100 pages of content, generously spaced, including references. The content is very limited and includes nothing on negative symptoms, which is quite shocking. The remainder of the book is just copied and pasted from the prescriber's guide. A money grab from the Stahl publication mill. I would have returned it if I were still in the window.

First part is 100 pages of notes on "psychosis", which seems to be schizophrenia spectrum illnesses, but not specifically psychotic symptoms, which is confusing for non- American readers. This is of some interest. The rest of the book, hundreds of pages, is standard pharmacology information, easily found freely available elsewhere. Lots of completely unnecessary stigmatising "psycho" prefixes: eg psychophamacology, psychoeducation - why not pharmacology, education? No mention anywhere of the all cause mortality gap, which NIMH quotes as 28.5 years for people with schizophrenia in America. If psychiatrists are not paying attention to the causes which are well known (common treatable "physical" illnesses like cardiometabolic syndrome) who are? This is an old fashioned Cartesian dualism "biological" psychiatry book, not a value for money modern medical book.