Regular readers of Advances in Psychiatric Treatment should be familiar with the articles in this volume, which have been reprinted minus the multiple choice questions, but with the benefit of some degree of updating. In his preface, Alan Lee argues cogently that “those most severely affected with depressive and non-psychotic disorders have levels of disability and enduring suffering comparable to those with schizophrenia”. Indeed, many of the chapters relate to the bread and butter of routine psychiatric out-patient work — the man with chronic depression who has not responded to adequate doses of antidepressants, the young woman with worsening anorexia nervosa, or the woman with persistent somatic complaints unhappy with her referral by the surgeon after numerous negative investigations and two laparotomies. As in the parent journal, the chapters are well structured and extremely readable, but would it have been even better, in a compendium of this nature, to invite commentaries by other recognised experts in the field, given that little new research is beyond debate? Perhaps the editor might consider this for future volumes?

In practical terms, the largely pharmacological chapters are likely to be of most immediate use to the practising clinician, as a quick and comprehensive update. Brief descriptions of models of psychological therapy will be helpful to experienced doctor and trainee alike, but cannot be a substitute for hands-on training. Brushing up on psychological therapies will always consist of more than acquisition of knowledge and this is inevitably the shortcoming of the ‘private study’ approach to continuing professional development from which the book has developed.

Given the current direction that psychiatry is taking, it is good to see an acknowledgement that the topics covered in this book still remain within the remit of a competent general psychiatrist. But for how much longer?