A systematic yet approachable view of mental illness and the drugs used to treat it.
A straightforward guide to mental disorders and the drugs that treat them.
In one brief volume, Thompson has gathered an amount of data it would take days to locate on the Web. The author, a physicist “who has an interest in medical treatments for mental illness,” according to his biography, gives a tutorial on brain chemistry, then lists some psychiatric diagnoses (the various types of depression, psychosis, schizophrenia) and the medications usually prescribed to treat those disorders. The book has helpful charts and lists that clearly designate drug chemical names, brand names, on- and off-label uses and common side effects. It also includes the pros and cons for each substance, as well as dangerous symptoms and interactions to watch out for. Particularly nice is the directory of websites, both official and quirky, where psychiatric patients and their friends and families can find reliable information and support. Thompson’s candid writing about the most dreaded of side effects, sexual dysfunction, takes this sensitive subject out of the shadows, presenting it as a surmountable challenge. The author makes a point of stating that he is not a medical doctor, and that MDs are not technically scientists, in the sense that they do little research. While they may be “competent to treat” patients, MDs don’t often have what Thompson calls a “deep knowledge of psychotropic medications.” Like any good scientist, Thompson is an accumulator of data, and his research is methodical. If there is a weak point to this book, it is the lack of a nuanced approach to psychotropics and the accompanying therapies that develop from experience, observation and work with real patients–the part of psychiatric treatment that is as much art as it is science. Still, Thompson has written a meticulous book, well-organized and indexed, that would be useful to those suffering from mental illness.
A systematic yet approachable view of mental illness and the drugs used to treat it.Pub Date: June 26, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4196-6954-5
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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