This is an introductory text for students of medicine and other health professions. By emphasising the relevance of biological, psychological and social factors in the assessment and treatment of mental illness, it offers the student a clear, cogent and practical approach to the field. Part I applies this approach to the fundamental topics of aetiology, classification, clinical phenomena and the mental state examination. Part II deals with the main clinical disorders, presented from the more readily comprehensible (such as reaction to a crisis) to the less so (such as schizophrenia). Part III looks at specific groups and settings with chapters on children, women, the elderly, and migrant and Aboriginal people. The focus of Part IV is the principles, range and practical application of psychiatric treatments, with the final chapter demystifying the psychotherapies. Shared commitment to the biopsychosocial model by the contributors, all experts in their field, makes for a remarkably consistent, coherent and useful book.