Basant Puri & Ian Treasaden Oxford University Press, 2008, £21.95 pb, 256 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-853080-0

Suicide Prevention

Robert D. Goldney Oxford University Press, 2008, £5.99 pb, 120 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-953325-1

Emergencies in Psychiatry is a pocket-sized handbook and as such faces pivotal choices and challenges peculiar to such publications. What constitutes an emergency? How might they be prioritised? What level of detail is possible and appropriate? How can often complex fields be summarised to allow them to be readily accessible to a trainee? Emergencies in Psychiatry copes unevenly with these demands. Its strength lies in its specification of up-to-date professional guidelines and recommendations. Although its treatment of topics is generally succinct, it leans towards too lengthy listings of causes for it to be of practical bedside help to the trainee. This is reminiscent of medical textbook lists where the most obscure cause is remembered (a personal favourite being scorpion bites as a cause of pancreatitis). I found the range of emergencies covered surprising, with homelessness and domestic abuse along-side traditional concerns such as the ‘aggressive patient’.

The book attempts to cover all aspects and specialties within psychiatry and is overinclusive for a pocket-sized text. A greater selectivity in its coverage alongside its capacity for succinct communication might have enabled it to successfully compete for a place in a trainee's back pocket.

In contrast, Suicide Prevention is more surefooted in negotiating the challenges of a short text. Its planning and sequencing of topics are well conceived and all relevant aspects of suicide, including history, epidemiology, assessment and management are included. These build towards the chapter on suicide prevention. I particularly liked the chapter dealing with bereavement after suicide which does not always get the attention it deserves. The presentation is well structured and the use of summary boxes is effective. It reads well throughout. This book will be useful for psychiatric trainees and perhaps medical students with an interest in the topic. As might be expected with such a short text, senior psychiatrists and those in other disciplines with a mature understanding of the field are unlikely to find anything new.