[.ca] Handbook of Affective Disorders, Second Edition (ISBN 0898626749)

Dense, technical, broad but sometimes too shallow:
This is one dense and technical book. It is, as advertised, a handbook -- if you have a question about depression or mania, at least the beginnings of an answer can be found here. Every topic related to affective disorders -- defining the disorders, their course and treatment, etiology, social aspects, biological aspects, psychodynamics, etc. -- is given some space. 42 chapters by a variety of British and U.S. authors cover lots of ground. This is not light reading but is about right for someone at or beyond the advanced undergraduate level. It's quite broad and thus somewhat cursory, some chapters more so than others. You might want to turn to a different book if you're looking for more fleshing out of any one topic. That's my complaint about this book. In many areas it mentions just one or two studies, described in one or two sentences, and that's the total coverage of a topic, leaving the reader wondering what other (maybe contradictory) research exists and how much stock to put in the studies listed. The conclusions of the studies are stated but the methodology is not. Here's an example from the "Genetics" chapter: "Cyclothymia. This condition of repetitive high and low mood swings, generally not requiring clinical attention, is probably genetically related to bipolar disorder (Gershon et al 1982, Akiskal et al 1977)." That's it! and then there's a new heading to introduce the next disorder. I could get this level of explanation in Good Housekeeping magazine (without the citations, which, I admit, do make a difference). I'm left wondering: How strongly related? How probable? Are these the only studies that exist on that topic? I presume this is a matter of trying to cover so much material in so little space. I'd rather learn about affective disorders by reading separate books that go into more depth. I suppose this book might be good for an overview that directs you toward avenues of further inquiry. It might serve as a good refresher to have on the shelf after you've mastered the subject in depth. But it's not very good for learning about affective disorders for the first time, and it's not that good for brushing up on details you don't recall. It's not a BAD book, just not a particularly GOOD one by itself.