Handbook of Psychotrophic Drugs (13th Revised Edition), The

Mental Health Nursing,  Jan 2004  by Knowles, Jess

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The Handbook of Psychotrophic Drugs (13th Revised Edition) KZ Bezchlinyk-Butler and JJ Jeffries (eds) ISBN 0 88937 273 X Hogrefe and Huber, Switzerland (2003) Euro 54.95, pp 320

The introduction of this book claims that this is a 'user-friendly and very practical resource guide to the use of psychotrophic drugs.' It certainly lives up to the introduction and the editors may have added 'comprehensive' to the description.

All forms of psychotrophic drugs appear to be well represented here and the authors take a wide spectrum approach to the term psychotrophic drugs. They include not only those drugs prescribed in treatment of mental disorder but also include | information on drugs that are commonly abused, herbal and 'natural' products that are claimed to have psychotrophic effects. The authors also include new unapproved treatments for psychiatric disorders.

Although the title of the book refers to the drugs used in the treatment of psychiatric disorder, three of the treatments included are physical therapies: electroconvulsive therapy, bright light therapy and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. These are discussed in detail and the possible interaction with drug treatments reported.

This spiral bound book is easy to use. There are chapters on each main category of drug, for example 'Antidepressants' which is then divided into the subgroups such as 'Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors', 'Non-Selective Cyclic Antidepressants'.

For each subgroup a list of the chemical class, generic name, trade name and dosage is given. At this point it must be emphasised that this is an American/Canadian publication and therefore the trade names of drugs are sometimes different to those distributed in the UK. However, if the reader knows the generic name of the drug the information given for each subgroup is very comprehensive indeed. As well as the usual information on the indications for use, the adverse effects and precautions, the reader will also find detailed information on the pharmacology, toxicity and precautions. There is also very useful information about nursing implications and advice that should be given to patients receiving this form of therapy.

For each class of drug/treatment there is a suggested reading list though the information within each chapter is not referenced and there is no indication as to where this information came from. The exception to this is the chapter about herbal and 'natural' treatments where the sources of evidence are referred to within the text.

The real strengths of this book are that it is user friendly. Specific drugs are easy to look up and the comprehensive information is presented in a very readable format. The book would appear to be aimed mainly at psychiatrists and physicians but all health care professionals would find useful and relevant information about the drugs and/or treatments prescribed for those with mental health problems. For the reader who wants more than just the basic knowledge about the action of the drug and the implications for care staff and patients when this is prescribed there is the related neurobiology and neurochemistry available.

The editors claim in their introduction that the book is regularly reviewed and updated. Evidence is taken from a wide variety of sources including basic science data, controlled clinical trials and anecdotal evidence. It aims to reflect the changes in j therapy and practice. It has to be noted that books about the pharmacological treatment of any disorder date very quickly and therefore need to be revised regularly. This has a cost implications and it is quite likely that this type of book is best suited to library or departmental reference collections than personal copies.

Despite the problem of this being published for an American/Canadian market I could see this book being a very useful reference book for health care professionals in general. In particular it will be a useful text for student and qualified nurses. I am very pleased to have been introduced to it and will certainly make use of it in my future lectures.

Jess Knowles

Copyright Community Psychiatric Nurses Association Jan 2004
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