Late-life depression. Edited by S. P. Roose and H. A. Sackeim. Pages: 388
1
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2005; 20: 498. BOOK REVIEWS The Forgetting. David Shenk. Flamingo, London, 2003. Pages: 290. £8.99. Is there no end to the range of ‘popular’ books on Alzheimer’s disease? Fortunately, apparently not, for David Shenk (not to be confused with Dale Schenk, the genetically modified mouse anti-Alzhei- mer vaccine man) has written a book that, in a now busy field, is unlike any other. As well as good clear accounts of the science (still quite topical, though the book was originally pub- lished in America in 2001), there are stimulating speculations on forgetting, an anthology of the dementias of some famous people, items on the poli- tics of research funding, case studies, telling quota- tions and interviews with sufferers and carers. Another reviewer described it as ‘a startling mixture of history, science, politics and compelling case stu- dies’ and one can’t improve on that for conciseness. So much could be too much, but the fact that it is ably, even racily, wirtten by a good journalist makes it an easy book to read from cover to cover. It won the BMA Popular Medicine Book award. I learnt things that I didn’t know on the science and some of its blind alleys, as well as on Ralph Waldo Emerson and much else; am I the only reader of our journal who had missed out on the now forgotten ‘scotophobin’ (che- mically transmissible fear of the dark)? Despite its sad subject, a book to enjoy. TOM ARIE Professor Emeritus of Health Care of the Elderly Nottingham University Nottingham, UK Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/gps.1309 Late-Life Depression. Edited by S. P. Roose and H. A. Sackeim. Pages: 388. £49.50. This is an important book. It is a comprehensive scholarly text on late-life depression, running to 388 pages. The nearest equivalent I can think of is also from North America, Diagnosis and Treatment of Late-Life Depression: Results of the NIH Consensus Development Conference, published in 1994 under the editorship of I. S. Schneider and colleagues. Many of the authors of that authoritative text appear in this one but the format is much more attractive and this book will be more widely available. There are five sections. Epidemiology and the burden of depression; the phenomenology and differ- ential diagnosis; psychobiology of depression; treat- ment aspects; lastly, depression co-morbid with other illnesses. Bipolar disorder is covered. The for- mat works well although the reader has to delve around as the answer to a particular question might be found in more than one section. For example, anti- depressants come up in three chapters in the treatment section, and again in some of the co-morbidity chap- ters in the last section. Fortunately the index is quite thorough. Topical subjects such as vascular depres- sion are covered in depth and most of the referencing is quite up to date, at least to 2002 or even 2003. The review of evidence is very impressive indeed. The editors are quite plain in their introduction that this is an evidenced based book and make no apology for this. It does mean, though, that a reader who is looking only for practical tips on management might be disappointed. It is not that kind of textbook. It also means that the coverage of psychotherapy is much less than that of pharmacotherapy. Again, the authors acknowledge this, highlighting the smaller evidence base for psychotherapy. There were minor quibbles. For example, four photographic plates appear in the middle of a chapter on antidepressants but none relate to the text. Given that all the contributors are from the USA, some may feel that the book would have benefited from an international perspective. Nevertheless, it will become the standard reference book for all major topics under the rubric of late-life depression. ROBERT BALDWIN Manchester Mental Health & Social Care Trust Manchester Royal Infirmary Manchester, UK Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/gps.1308 Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
-
Upload
robert-baldwin -
Category
Documents
-
view
212 -
download
0
Transcript of Late-life depression. Edited by S. P. Roose and H. A. Sackeim. Pages: 388
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY
Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2005; 20: 498.
BOOK REVIEWS
The Forgetting. David Shenk. Flamingo, London,2003. Pages: 290. £8.99.
Is there no end to the range of ‘popular’ books onAlzheimer’s disease? Fortunately, apparently not,for David Shenk (not to be confused with DaleSchenk, the genetically modified mouse anti-Alzhei-mer vaccine man) has written a book that, in a nowbusy field, is unlike any other.
As well as good clear accounts of the science (stillquite topical, though the book was originally pub-lished in America in 2001), there are stimulatingspeculations on forgetting, an anthology of thedementias of some famous people, items on the poli-tics of research funding, case studies, telling quota-tions and interviews with sufferers and carers.Another reviewer described it as ‘a startling mixtureof history, science, politics and compelling case stu-dies’ and one can’t improve on that for conciseness.
So much could be too much, but the fact that it isably, even racily, wirtten by a good journalist makes itan easy book to read from cover to cover. It won theBMA Popular Medicine Book award. I learnt thingsthat I didn’t know on the science and some of its blindalleys, as well as on Ralph Waldo Emerson and muchelse; am I the only reader of our journal who hadmissed out on the now forgotten ‘scotophobin’ (che-mically transmissible fear of the dark)? Despite its sadsubject, a book to enjoy.
TOM ARIE
Professor Emeritus of Health Care of the ElderlyNottingham University
Nottingham, UK
Published online in Wiley InterScience(www.interscience.wiley.com).
DOI: 10.1002/gps.1309
Late-Life Depression. Edited by S. P. Roose and H. A.Sackeim. Pages: 388. £49.50.
This is an important book. It is a comprehensivescholarly text on late-life depression, running to 388pages. The nearest equivalent I can think of is alsofrom North America, Diagnosis and Treatment ofLate-Life Depression: Results of the NIH ConsensusDevelopment Conference, published in 1994 underthe editorship of I. S. Schneider and colleagues. Manyof the authors of that authoritative text appear in thisone but the format is much more attractive and thisbook will be more widely available.
There are five sections. Epidemiology and theburden of depression; the phenomenology and differ-ential diagnosis; psychobiology of depression; treat-ment aspects; lastly, depression co-morbid withother illnesses. Bipolar disorder is covered. The for-mat works well although the reader has to delvearound as the answer to a particular question mightbe found in more than one section. For example, anti-depressants come up in three chapters in the treatmentsection, and again in some of the co-morbidity chap-ters in the last section. Fortunately the index is quitethorough. Topical subjects such as vascular depres-sion are covered in depth and most of the referencingis quite up to date, at least to 2002 or even 2003.
The review of evidence is very impressive indeed.The editors are quite plain in their introduction thatthis is an evidenced based book and make no apologyfor this. It does mean, though, that a reader who islooking only for practical tips on management mightbe disappointed. It is not that kind of textbook. It alsomeans that the coverage of psychotherapy is muchless than that of pharmacotherapy. Again, the authorsacknowledge this, highlighting the smaller evidencebase for psychotherapy.
There were minor quibbles. For example, fourphotographic plates appear in the middle of achapter on antidepressants but none relate to the text.Given that all the contributors are from the USA,some may feel that the book would have benefitedfrom an international perspective. Nevertheless, itwill become the standard reference book for all majortopics under the rubric of late-life depression.
ROBERT BALDWIN
Manchester Mental Health & Social Care TrustManchester Royal Infirmary
Manchester, UK
Published online in Wiley InterScience(www.interscience.wiley.com).
DOI: 10.1002/gps.1308
Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
