Four years in the making, this entirely revised edition of a classic text provides a lucid and erudite review of the state of psychiatry today. Since the publication of the last edition in 1988, remarkable advances have been made in laboratory and clinical psychiatric research; the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) has been published; managed care has radically altered the provision of all medical care; and the profession of psychiatry has come to a sophisticated new understanding of the interplay between psychiatric knowledge and issues in the larger society.

All these changes are reflected in the new text. Of particular interest are the masterful and lucid reviews of current knowledge in the neurobiology of mental disorders, in the section on brain and behavior. The section on psychopathology clarifies newly emerging diagnostic categories and offers new insight into addictions, anxiety disorders, and disorders of cognition.

Like its predecessors, The Harvard Guide To Psychiatry focuses throughout on the relationship between the physician and the patient. Its unspoken motto is that the art of psychiatry is as important as the science. For this recognition of what is relevant clinically as well as technically, this book will be an essential reference and support for both the new and the experienced psychiatrist.

This new edition includes up-to-date discussions of:DSM-IVManaged careImprovements in neuroimagingThe increased use of psychoactive drugsRecent advances in molecular biologyResearch on the biology of schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and addictive disorders

Hypnosis, confabulation, source amnesia, flashbulb memories, repression--these and numerous additional topics are explored in this timely collection of essays by eminent scholars in a range of disciplines. This is the first book on memory distortion to unite contributions from cognitive psychology, psychopathology, psychiatry, neurobiology, sociology, history, and religious studies. It brings the most relevant group of perspectives to bear on some key contemporary issues, including the value of eyewitness testimony and the accuracy of recovered memories of sexual abuse.

The distinguished contributors to this volume explore the full range of biological phenomena and social ideas relevant to understanding memory distortion, including the reliability of children's recollections, the effects of hypnosis on memory, and confabulation in brain-injured patients. They also look into the activity and role of brain systems, cellular bases of memory distortion, and the effects of emotion and trauma on the accuracy of memory. In a section devoted to the social aspects of memory distortion, additional essays analyze the media's part in distorting social memory, factors influencing historical reconstruction of the collective past, and memory distortion in religion and other cultural constructs. Daniel Schacter launches the collection with a history of psychological memory distortions. Subsequent highlights include new empirical findings on memory retrieval by a pioneer in the field, some of the foremost research on computational models, studies of the relationship between emotion and memory, new findings on amnesia by a premier neuroscientist, and reflections on the power of collective amnesia in U.S. history, the Nazi Holocaust, and ancient Egypt.