Handbook of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology

From our regular book review column.

Given the rapidly changing advances in the biological treatmentof children and adolescents and the number of recentworks devoted to this area, a book on pediatric psychopharmacology,to be worth purchasing or reading, must offer clinicalinsights into treatment options, detail adverse effects of medicationor medication classes of clinical importance, provide asolid base for understanding the nuances related to the prescribingand monitoring of psychotropic medications, and integratethe material such that it will not be soon outdated. The Handbookof Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology does this ina succinct and easily read manner and accomplishes its statedtask of providing practical, updated, evidence-based informationon the best use of psychotropics to clinicians caring foryoungsters with psychiatric illness. Acknowledging the controversialnature of medication prescribed to manage childhoodemotional and behavioral disturbances, it describes features ofvarious disorders but inconsistently considers psychosocial interventionsthat may be appropriate for particular disorders orsymptom complexes.