This splendid book is welcome in its third edition. It will stimulate, enlighten and refresh anyone who works in the field of mental health. The aim of this readable and inviting work is to improve diagnosis, to share knowledge in dealings with doctors and lawyers, and to improve the care given.
Andrew Sims (who now has a centre named after him at the University of Leeds) has a vast clinical experience, informed by many links with past classical writers; a sense of continuity with the humanities and medicine results. He covers the wide range of symptoms which are met in psychiatry deftly, with wit and learning. His chapters, like Ariadne's thread, will guide one through many a maze. The international classification systems ICD-10 and DSM-IV are explained without tedious repetition. It is a pleasure to find a chapter on the psychopathology of pain; and the chapter on personality disorders is a model of what is needed.
The chapter on insight deals with the cultural and social aspects that have led some to question its value. Developments in neuroscience or clinical psychology have necessitated updates; Sims has made much of taking the patient's history: now ‘narrative’ is welcome. Reviewers have praised the thoroughness of the references; however, multiple personality and possession syndromes might merit two more: Ian Hacking's Rewriting the Soul (Reference HackingHacking, 1998) and I. M. Lewis's Ecstatic Religion (Reference LewisLewis, 2002).
The book is well produced, and I found few errors. Every library should have this new edition, and I hope many individuals will also invest in it and enjoy using it.
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