The Science of Psychiatry We live in exciting times. Psychiatrists practicing their specialty are beset as never before with news of developments in the field. The conduits of news to the practicing clinician are usually either stories written in the popular medical press such as news circulars and advertisements from commercial concerns, or from de- tailed scientific articles written for the scientific community. In both forms, the news has been coming thick and fast. The problem encountered most often by practicing psychiatrists and clini- cians responsible for hospital facilities is...

The first volume of this Handbook discussed neuroendocrine diagnostic tests and the diagnostic use of central nervous system amine metabolites. That volume further reviewed the toxicological evaluation of patients and the laboratory evalua- tion of treatment outcome. It suggested a system for evaluating newly admitted psychiatric patients and dermed the scope of diagnostic procedures available in the emergency department. Volume II focuses on the use and interpretation of electro physiologic and radiologic diagnostic tests in psychiatry and then explores the laboratory evaluation of special...

When my colleagues and I began the task of assembling this volume, several difficult questions arose: For whom were we writing? Was the purpose to eluci date psychiatric or medical presentation? Should references reflect specific to pical areas, or lead the reader to a more general view of a particular topic? Would a symptom or system approach best serve the reader? Should the volume cover a few areas in detail, or attempt to survey a larger area of knowledge? The present text reflects an attempt to answer these questions. It is designed for the student of medicine who desires a broader...