Clinical Neurology for Psychiatrists, 5th ed.

This classic textbook by Dr. Kaufman is now available in its fifth edition. The intended audience is practicing psychiatrists, as the title suggests. The volume is also designed to be of special use to psychiatrists sitting for board examinations in which neurology questions might be included. The textbook has two sections. In the first, Classic Anatomic Neurology, there are six chapters. The first chapter is a discussion of how to approach and examine a patient with a neurological complaint, followed by a discussion of how to formulate a case with suspected neurological disease. Chapters 2–6 take a systems approach and deal with common neurological presentations at all levels of the nervous system. Accordingly, one chapter deals with CNS disorders, one with psychogenic neurological deficits, one with cranial nerve impairments, one with peripheral nerve disorders, and the last one with muscle disorders.

The second section of the book, Major Neurologic Symptoms, includes 14 chapters dealing with a particular type of complaint: dementia, aphasia, headache, seizures, cerebrovascular accidents, visual disturbances, congenital cerebral impairments, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, sexual dysfunction, sleep disorders, movement disorders, brain tumors/metastatic cancer, and traumatic brain injury. In this section there are also two chapters that are somewhat out of place, one dealing with lumbar puncture and imaging studies and the other dealing with neurotransmitters and drug abuse. The coverage is quite broad but with just the right depth for the practicing psychiatrist.

Each chapter is clearly written, without excessively technical language and with more than adequate explanations for complex terms and concepts. There are multiple illustrations, some photographs but mostly sketches, that illustrate key points. These extensive illustrations are of particular value to the reader. Each chapter is followed by a series of case-based, multiple-choice questions as well as their detailed answers. Thus each chapter is quite comprehensive and constructed so that learning is easy and thorough.

This is an excellent, comprehensive textbook that should be in the library of every practicing psychiatrist. Thorough review of this book is more than adequate preparation for the neurology segments of the general psychiatry and geriatric psychiatry examinations. Practicing psychiatrists will find this book extremely useful to have available when they need to look up a neurology complaint or differential diagnosis or simply want to remind themselves of some aspect of the neurological examination or the presentation and management of common neurological diseases. Given how well written this textbook is, reading sections every now and then is also highly instructive, even if the book is not being used as a reference. As a practicing neuropsychiatrist I found reviewing this book to be a highly rewarding experience and an extremely valuable continuing education activity.