James W. Jefferson – författare

Everyone feels blue now and then. Most of these feelings are short-lived and disappear over time, but sometimes the depression is so severe that it interferes with our lives. At least 10% of us will experience a major depression during our lives and, at any given time, 5% of us could benefit from treatment. "Depression and Its Treatment" is for anyone who is being treated for depression, considering treatment, or just wondering whether or not he or she is depressed. It is also for family and friends of people with depression, and anyone interested in understanding what depression is and how it is treated. Is depression caused by a chemical imbalance? Is depression inherited? Do children get depressed? Are antidepressant medications safe? These are some of the questions addressed by Drs. Greist and Jefferson in the revised edition of this book. Written in an easy-to-follow question and answer format, this helpful guide walks the reader through the maze of new information available on this mental health problem. It shows how to identify symptoms of depression, what professional services are available, and where to find additional help. Drs.Geist and Jefferson share detailed information about the effectiveness of all available treatments - from psychotherapy to medication and exercise. This guide should prove valuable to all those interested in understanding this common disorder.

When Critical Issues in Psychiatry was conceived, there were several sub­ jects I considered to be of crucial importance in a series devoted to residents and clinicians in psychiatry, as well as to other mental health professionals. Of prominence was the pressing need for an in-depth and scholarly exam­ ination of the interface between medicine and psychiatry. I had been amazed to find that not a single book, to my mind, adequately addressed the psy­ chological symptoms and manifestations of both common and rare medical illness. It seemed to me that there was a need for a work which would achieve the following goals: First, it would assist in the differential diagnosis of functional psychiatric symptoms versus symptoms secondary to recog­ nized or unrecognized medical illness; second, it would elucidate the psy­ chological symptoms resulting from pharmacologic and other therapeutic interventions in medical illness; and third, it would examine the use of psychopharmacological agents in the presence of medical illness and the drugs used to treat that illness. Dr. Jefferson is Board Certified in both internal medicine and psychiatry, and both Drs. Jefferson and Marshall have extensive clinical experience from their many years of consultation/liaison work in psychiatry. Their experience and expertise have resulted in what I believe to be a monumental contri­ bution to the literature.