In this book, Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Phillip R. Slavney, M.D.,
offers a concise guide that will help primary-care physicians evaluate
and treat patients who are delirious, demoralized, thinking of suicide,
or refusing to follow medical advice.
Although these patients exhibit emotional distress, cognitive
disturbance, or maladaptive behavior, the cause of the problem is often
their medical illness and treatment. For that reason, many such patients
can receive excellent care from their own physicians--physicians who,
given the resistance of managed care companies to specialist referrals,
must now bear that responsibility in any event. After an introductory
chapter on clinical assessment, Slavney discusses each of these common
problems as it occurs in the clinical setting, with illustrative cases
and specific advice about evaluation and treatment.
"Dr. Slavney has written lucidly and carefully about these very
important issues, clarifying his exposition through a series of case
examples. This book should be enormously useful not only to students and
house staff but also to practicing physicians and faculty, especially
those making the rounds on clinical services. One wishes, in fact, that
it were possible to have Dr. Slavney along on rounds; this volume is a
useful move in that direction."--Jeremiah A. Barondess, M.D., from the
foreword