Practical Psychopharmacology

Despite the lack of guidance available for practitioners, extensive polypharmacy has become the primary method of treating patients with severe and chronic mood, anxiety, psychotic or behavioral disorders. This ground-breaking new book provides an overview of psychopharmacology knowledge and decision-making strategies, integrating findings from evidence-based trials with real-world clinical presentations. It adopts the approach and mind-set of a clinical investigator and reveals how prescribers can practice 'bespoke psychopharmacology', tailoring care to the individualized needs of patients. Practitioners at all levels of expertise will enhance their ability to devise rationale-based treatments, targeting manifestations of dysfunctional neural circuitry and dimensions of psychopathology that cut across conventional psychiatric diagnoses. Presented in a user-friendly, practical, full-colour layout and incorporating summary tables, bullet points, and illustrative case vignettes, it is an invaluable guide for all healthcare professionals prescribing psychotropic medications, including psychiatry specialists, primary care physicians, and advanced practice registered nurses.

    Focusing on how practising clinicians can distil information from clinical trials and apply findings to individual patients, readers will be able to render more personalized, individualized care and better understand rationales when choosing from among treatment options
    Bridges the gap between how pharmacotherapy occurs in clinical research trials and real-world practice so that clinicians feel more confident assessing patients, tracking outcomes, and determining when and why to implement pharmacotherapy changes across a range of psychiatric phenomena
    Incorporates neuroscience-based nomenclature to allow psychopharmacologists to better understand the mechanistic rationales for medications they use to treat a broad range of psychiatric conditions