Depression (Oxford Psychiatry Library Series) Raymond W. Lam & Hiram Mok Oxford University Press, 2008, £5.99 pb, 120 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-921988-9

This book is intended as a practical bedside reference. The authors make clear from the outset that they have simplified a complex diagnosis to give an overview of the topic and its management.

The opening chapter gives several vignettes of how depression might present in clinical practice and the following chapters outline its epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical features and diagnosis. In the remaining chapters, the authors focus on depression management, various treatment modalities and treatment in special groups (the elderly, pregnant or breastfeeding women and adolescents). A useful collection of rating scales, both patient- and clinician-administered, is included in the appendix.

The book is well laid out and easy to read. A large amount of detailed information has been condensed into this volume, with illustrations included in the chapter on pathogenesis. Illustrations are quite detailed, but a small font size makes them difficult to read. They are, however, well referenced, so that an interested reader can easily locate additional information.

Each chapter begins with a few key points and there are several tables making for easy reference. Those on prescribing are not as detailed as in the Maudsley prescribing guidelines but they are nevertheless useful and the book itself is much easier to carry around. It does cover other therapies, including the psychotherapies and somatic treatments, in good detail. As it is a Canadian publication, the DSM–IV is the favoured diagnostic system and some of the treatments are not widely used in the UK, but most of the information is internationally relevant. I have already found it useful in my out-patient clinic.