Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry Eleventh Edition

The media could not be loaded. Synopsis of Psychiatry as long been the gold standard of psychiatric textbooks. Walk into most mental health clinician's offices and this sits on their book shelf. My alma mater used the 10th edition of this book throughout the entire program.I recently developed a psychiatry program for a local university and was selecting the foundational textbook. I went about comparing this book with Black's (2014) Introductory Textbook of Psychiatry, Sixth Edition, Hale's (2014) The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry, and Gabbard's (2014) Gabbard's Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders. While Black, Gabbard, & Hale all offer something unique, this book by far provides the most in-depth and comprehensive overview of the field of psychiatry. This book is also priced similarly or cheaper than the books noted above. In the end, I stuck with Synopsis of Psychiatry.The downside to this book is that it is very heavy with 1400+ pages. The text is tiny and organized into two columns per page. Sometimes I find it difficult to follow the textual organization on each page. This is likely not a book you will read cover to cover. The only colored images are of different medication pills and brain imaging at the front of the book. The rest of the book is black, white, and pink. I should note, that the other books I mentioned above are also in grey scale and have far fewer images throughout the text.Compared with the books mentioned above, Synopsis of Psychiatry provides more detailed historical information about each mental illness and a much more thorough discussion of child and adolescent psychiatry. This book, compared with others, also provides more information about theories of personality and psychopathology and it includes two chapters dedicated to the contributions of psychosocial sciences and sociocultural sciences.For each mental disorder, this book does include the DSM 5 criteria, history, epidemiology, clinical features, associated symptoms, differential diagnosis, course, prognosis, and treatment options. On the other hand, Gabbard's text offers a much more detailed analysis of treatment options for each individual disorder.In the end, this is an excellent foundational and reference textbook. It is bulky, heavy, and difficult to read the tiny text. The paperback version does come with a "free enhanced ebook." I would recommend using this or the Kindle version and reading the book on your tablet or computer. It lends to a much more comfortable reading experience.

This text book has been a study companion and reference for me since my residency days. I used this book in conjunction with the K/S review questions book to prepare for board exams and use it frequently to read up on specific topics. The book is very comprehensive. I"m still exploring the new edition, thus far I especially appreciate the update on genetics and pharmacology, among others. The DSM-5 update of all chapters is helpful for review. Actually no need to buy the APA DSM-5 book separately, this book has all the diagnostic categories in tables and explanations of diagnostic criteria. Also has numerous cases. All in all, a very worthwhile purchase.Addendum: The purchase includes e_book access. Tried the e_book on my android tablet and find that there is no highlighting function, no copy or print function, no note function,no good text to speech function etc. All it offers is basic book reading, nothing else. Needs more functions such as those mentioned to be fully useful. I understand that more functions are offered for iOS and windows platform, android needs work.I really liked being able to download the e_book to my android tablet via the Inkling app from google play store. It was very easy to do and once downloaded, no internet connection is necessary for reading. I consider this feature a real plus, reminds me of kindle. The downside is that Inkling download/reading is limited to two devices, tough if you are a 'multi-devicer' .

Of course, the book is wonderful. I have had all previous editions and this one, if possible, surpasses previous standards. For me, this book is a great ode to the human nervous system and I am not exaggerating in saying that it often brings tears to my eyes. It is poetry if you are of the mind to see it that way. On the physical plane, the volume is very very heavy and the ereader option is a great plus. HOWEVER, I have found the Inkling.com website, where you register the book, poorly constructed and very hard to navigate. As far as I can tell, if you have the book open on one device, you will not be able to open it on another. And I, as yet, have not been able to download it to my iPad. The website, for me is user unfriendly and very frustrating. This is not a book you can bring with you on a subway commute due to its density. All that being said, it is a fabulous resource for any mental health practitioner. I will go further and say anyone who owns a brain would benefit from taking some time with this weighty tome. If people appreciated the miracle of the complexity and integration of the human body, in this instance the brain/nervous system, maybe there would be less war.

I was not dissapointed with the contents..what i dont like is some pages come loose with continued turning...

It finally happened, the DSM5 was released and now you must update your library accordingly and buy the new Kaplan & Sadock (Sadock made an honest woman out of Kaplan, so really it's just Sadock and Sadock, but the name just sticks). As you know, in the past this is the gold standard in psychiatry for review purposes, and I'm glad to say it's still a quality readI pre-ordered the book over a year ago and I am ashamed to say that yes, I was excited when it finally shipped a couple of weeks agoIt's a great book, basically everything from the old Kaplan and Sadock, same introductory chapters about schizophrenia, etc, but with all the new DSM5 vernacular like "illness anxiety disorder [ie hypochondriasis]". I personally dislike the DSM5, but it's here to stay for many years, so if you need a guide for it, this is it.Now all we need is for the Mass Gen board prep to update their text and then I can stop buying new books.