The 4th edition of The Clinical Manual of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology provides an excellent overview of up-to-date research and prescribing practices, the latter albeit in North America, amongst child and adolescent psychiatrists.
In spite of its petite appearance, this well-structured book belies an extensive knowledge within its covers. After an excellent introduction to psychopharmacology, there are nine chapters, each one dedicated to some of the most common DSM-V diagnoses clinicians will encounter in day-to-day clinical practice, namely, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders, eating disorders, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) alongside major depressive disorder, bipolar disorders, early-onset schizophrenia/psychosis and tic disorders. There is also one chapter (Chapter 3) dedicated to disruptive behaviour disorders and aggression.
The title would lead one to believe this book is purely pharmacology based; however, this is not the case. Each chapter has unique subheadings, but there is also chapter-dependent coverage of epidemiology, diagnoses, differential diagnoses, course and outcome(s) alongside non-pharmacological interventions. Each chapter concludes with a reference list.
Where this book excels is in relation to detailed information on supporting studies alongside valuable charts on side effects of medications alongside suggested interventions. Furthermore, Chapter 9 (early-onset schizophrenia and psychotic illnesses) includes valuable references to prevalence of hallucinations and delusions in non-psychotic paediatric patients (Kelleher et al., Reference Kelleher, Connor, Clarke, Devlin, Harley and Cannon2012; Maijer et al., Reference Maijer, Begemann, Palmen, Leucht and Sommer2018), a not uncommon diagnostic dilemma in CAMHS.
If purchasing this book, clinicians will need to be mindful this resource is most primarily targeted to a North American audience. Published by The American Psychiatric Association, it utilises DSM-V diagnostic criteria and cites medications with FDA approval. Clearly prescribing practices and monitoring protocols are vastly different in North America and prolactin is not routinely monitored (pg 268). Those who do purchase or borrow this book should cross reference information against best practice guidelines utilised in Ireland. With formulations and medication strengths/dosages being vastly different in North America, clinicians should review licensing and maximum dosages in Ireland through the Health Products Regulatory Authory (HPRA) summary of product characteristics (SPC) freely available online: www.hpra.ie. Clinicians may also wish to review Sharma et al. (Reference Sharma, Arango, Coghill, Gringras, Nutt, Pratt, Young and Hollis2016) when perusing Table 1–3 (Paediatric indications approved by the FDA and off-label use of selected psychotropic medications).
Competing interests
No conflict of interest.
Funding
No funding received, however, the book was provided free of charge in lieu of me providing a review.
