Description
Book SynopsisI have spent the best part of the last quarter of a century working on the con sultation service at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Much of my satisfaction has stemmed from working with nonpsychiatric physicians, especially in having them come to realize the value of psychological methods in the treatment of their patients. It has always been my belief that learning to understand the patient's mental life was as much a part of medicine as the taking of vital signs. To treat adequately, certainly to treat well, a physician must know something of his patient's thought processes. Teaching others the value of this knowledge is the first step in educating them to seek ways of learning it themselves. Rarely can this be done in the lecture hall. One can best pique curiosity by demon strating worth, and that is done at the bedside or in whatever setting the con sultation is carried out. Every consultation then carries an implicit imperative to attest its value. It can be covert teaching at its best. I have found the practice of consultation psychiatry satisfying and compelling enough to want to remain in it for at least another quarter of a century .
Table of Contents1. The Temperament and Preparation of the Consultant.- The Consultant, the Family, and Divorce.- 2. The Psychiatrist as a Consultant in Divorce and Custody.- 3. The Child Psychiatrist in Consultation within the Legal System.- 4. Family Assessment.- 5. Consultation for Adolescents.- The Consultant in the Clinical Setting.- 6. Child Psychiatry Consultation in a Pediatric Ward.- 7. Consultation with Highly Stressed Mental Health Professionals—The “Anchor Worker”.- 8. Consulting to a Rural Guidance Clinic.- 9. Consultation in Outpatient Settings.- The Consultant and the Educational System.- 10. Teachers and Classrooms.- 11. Administration and the Therapist: Consultation Conflicts and Alliances in the College Community.- 12. Consulting at Boarding Schools.- 13. Consultation: Two Worlds in a Factory Town.- 14. Staff Consultation in a Public School System.- Special Perspectives.- 15. The Pediatric Perspective.- 16. The Ghetto Child.- 17. Consultation in Disasters-Refugees.- Special Problems.- 18. Consultation and Mental Retardation.- 19. Child Psychiatry Consultation: Psychiatric Emergencies in Children and Adolescents.- 20. Depressed Children.- 21. Child Psychiatric Consultation Concerning Childhood Psychosis.- 22. Child Abuse: Role of the Child Psychiatrist in Abuse and Neglect.- 23. The Treatment of Cult Victims.
