Introduction

Summary

Following on from the success of the launch volume of Case Studies in 2011, we are very pleased to present a second collection of new clinical cases. Stahl's Essential Psychopharmacology started in 1996 as a textbook (currently in its fourth edition) on how psychotropic drugs work. It expanded to a companion Prescriber's Guide in 2005 (currently in its fifth edition) on how to prescribe psychotropic drugs. In 2008, a website was added (stahlonline.org) with both of these books available online in combination with several more, including an Illustrated series of books covering specialty topics in psychopharmacology. The Case Studies shows how to apply the concepts presented in these previous books to real patients in a clinical practice setting.

Why a case book? For practitioners, it is necessary to know the science and application of psychopharmacology – namely, both the mechanism of action of psychotropic drugs and the evidence-based data on how to prescribe them – but this is not sufficient to become a master clinician. Many patients are beyond the data and are excluded from randomized controlled trials. Thus, a true clinical expert also needs to develop the art of psychopharmacology: namely, how to listen, educate, destigmatize, mix psychotherapy with medications, and use intuition to select and combine medications. The art of psychopharmacology is especially important when confronting the frequent situations where there is no evidence on which to base a clinical decision.

What do you do when there is no evidence? The short answer is to combine the science with the art of psychopharmacology. The best way to learn this is probably by seeing individual patients. Here we hope you will join us and peer over our shoulders to observe 30 complex cases from our own clinical practice. Each case is anonymized in identifying details, but incorporates real case outcomes that are not fictionalized. Sometimes more than one case is combined into a single case. Hopefully, you will recognize many of these patients as similar to those you have seen in your own practice (although they will not be exactly the same patient, as the identifying historical details are changed here to comply with disclosure standards, and many patients can look very much like many other patients you know, which is why you may find this teaching approach effective for your clinical practice).