Shrink Rap

Description

[from front jacket:] Three psychiatrists from different specialties provide frank answers to questions such as: *- What is psychotherapy, how does it work, and why don't all psychiatrists do it? - When are medications helpful? - What happens on a psychiatric unit? - Can Prozac make people suicidal? - Why do many doctors not like Xanax? - Why do we have an insanity defense? - Why do people confess to crimes they didn't commit?* Based on the authors' hugely popular blog and podcast series, this book is for everyone who is curious about how psychiatrists work. Using compelling patient vignettes, Shrink Rap explains how psychiatrists think about and address the problems they encounter, from the mundane (how much to charge) to the controversial (involuntary hospitalization). The authors face the field's shortcomings head-on, revealing what other doctors may not admit about practicing psychiatry. Candid and humorous, *Shrink Rap* gives a closeup view of psychiatry, peering into technology, treatments, and the business of the field. If you've ever wondered how psychiatry really works, let the Shrink Rappers explain.

Description

What do psychiatrists think about when they approach a new patient? How do they decide what treatments to recommend? In Shrink Rap, we aim to demystify psychiatry and make it transparent by describing, in plain English, what we think about. We strive to avoid medical jargon and to communicate in a straightforward way about what we see, how we formulate patients' difficulties, and what treatments we have to offer. Psychiatry remains full of shortcomings. We don't know what causes some people to become mentally ill while others remain well. We don't know why certain treatments work for one person while they make another person with the same condition even worse. Scientific studies have only begun to touch on what we need to know, and as individual practitioners, we often still struggle to diagnose and treat psychiatric problems. Our understanding of psychotherapy is inexact. The medication strategies we use are sometimes motivated by a desperate desire to help a tormented patient after the tested treatments have failed. There are so many more questions to ask and so few for which we have answers. The shortcomings of our field notwithstanding, we hope you'll enjoy reading about our work as much as we enjoy doing it. Psychiatry has evolved a great deal over the past few decades, and we hope you'll find this journey into today's world of psychiatry illuminating.

First Sentence

MELISSA ADAMS is the nicest pediatrician a child could have. She softly sings the alphabet while examining a toddler and talks football draft picks with the teenage boys.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Shrink Rap: Three Psychiatrists Explain Their WorkHardcover; Paperback; Kindle; AudioJohns Hopkins University Press2011-01-01
• Shrink RapJohns Hopkins University Press2011-01-01