This book provides instruction in applying basic treatment strategies to patient care. Emphasis is placed on teachi. ng diagnostic skills, and especially, the therapeutic management of emotionally disturbed patients. This book is intended as a companion text to Basic Psychopathology: A Programmed Text, whi. ch focuses more on teaching the description and observational skills for diagnosing common psychopathologic syn- dromes. Basic Psychotherapeutics gives pragmatic suggestions for treating a variety of psychopathologic disorders, many of which are newly classi- fied in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual - III (DSM-II1) published by The American Psychiatric Association. We have adopted the terminology and many, but not all, of the diagnosti. c criteria used in DSM-III. The treatment recommendations proposed are eclectic in nature and the infor- mation presented is non-theoretical and patient centered. Basic Psychotherapeutics is divided into three parts. The first re- views basic data collection procedures and treatment skills; it includes chapters on interviewing, the mental status examination and pharmaco- logic, psychologic and behavioral therapy.
The next section includes chapters on commonly encountered psychiatric syndromes such as schiz- ophrenic, affective and anxiety disorders. The final chapters are pre- sentations of special clinical interest, such as the management of suicidal patients, psychiatric emergencies, treating the dying patient and his family, and others.