Psychiatric Illness in Women. Emerging Treatment and Research. Edited By Freda Lewis-Hall, Teresa S. Williams, Jill A. Panetta & John M. Herrera Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing. 2002. 680 pp. US$65.00 (pb). ISBN 1 58562 003 3

This book addresses many of the clinical and management problems and research dilemmas that a psychiatrist faces today. It consists of 25 chapters grouped in five sections. The first two sections include seven chapters on anxiety, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression, respectively. These chapters summarise the classic, well-established textbook information as well as presenting contentious questions such as treatment approaches during pregnancy, breast-feeding and comorbidity with endocrine disorders. They all contain a balanced discussion of biological factors v. experiential differences in social roles between the genders in the emergence of anxiety and depressive disorders.

The third section has eight chapters on schizophrenia. Topics range from the well-established information on gender differences in the origin, symptomatology and progression of the illness to more hypothetical issues regarding the role of oestrogens, the menopause and limitations of antipsychotics. All chapters contain information on recent developments and well-referenced up-to-date summaries.

Section 4 consists of four chapters on dementia and related disorders. There is a sound summary on Alzheimer's disease as it relates to both men and women, two accounts of the basic neurobiology of oestrogen and gonadal steroids and their possible role in the prevention of dementia.

Section 5 covers a range of topics: victimisation and PTSD, gender differences in substance misuse, and dissociative and eating disorders. Further chapters examine the effects of gender and ethnicity on psychopharmacology. The emphasis on the unique role of hormones as determinants of gender-specific variations in psycho-pharmacological response and its clinical implications could not be more timely.

This book is a comprehensive summary of women's psychiatric problems, new understanding of biological findings, emerging therapeutic changes and research issues. It gives a useful overview of established information, summarises hypotheses that need further research and discloses false dichotomies that have misled the management of women with psychiatric illnesses in the past. It is a timely addition to the literature on women's mental health and deserves to be widely read.