The Psychiatric Decision Pathways

The patient is in front of you. What could this be, and what do you do next?

On call, in clinic, and at the bedside, psychiatry asks you to decide before the picture is complete. The Psychiatric Decision Pathways takes you from the presenting problem to the differential diagnosis to the treatment plan, one decision at a time. It is written for psychiatry residents, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and board candidates, and its diagnostic criteria follow DSM-5-TR.

• 28 chapters that start where every evaluation starts: the diagnostic interview, the mental status examination, and suicide, violence, and risk assessment. They then cover workup and the medical mimics of psychiatric illness, psychopharmacology, and the major psychiatric disorders.
• Differential diagnosis and treatment algorithms that lay out each decision in a clear sequence, so you can see what to consider and what to rule out.
• The full range of treatment: psychotherapies, psychosocial and community-based care, ECT, TMS and other neuromodulation, and ketamine, esketamine, and emerging therapies.
• Psychiatric emergencies and adverse drug reactions, plus ethics, law, forensic issues, cultural care, and the systems of care and scope of practice you work within.
• 336 review questions, 12 at the end of every chapter, with answers and explanations collected at the back of the book so you can test yourself first and check afterward.
• An appendix and a glossary for quick lookup between patients.

Digital version included.

Every copy comes with a digital version. The activation page at the end of the book tells you how to claim it, so the same pathways are on your phone or tablet on the unit, at the clinic, or wherever you study.

Built for residents learning to reason through a presentation, nurse practitioners who need a clear route from diagnosis to treatment, and candidates preparing for their psychiatry boards.