Prescribing mental health medication: the practitioner's guide

"Prescribing Mental Health Medication is a text for nursing and medical practitioners who are learning how to diagnose and treat mental disorders with medication. Skills-based, it focuses on the following key issues: how to start and stop medication, how to dose, when to change medication, dealing with particular kinds of patients, specific illnesses and their medication, special populations and conditions, the management of side effects, practical issues such as monitoring medication with blood levels, administrative issues such as record-keeping."--Publisher's description.

General Principals of Medication Management -- Myths and Truths about Mental Health Medication -- The Initial Prescriptive Interview -- Helping a Patient Decide to Try Medication -- Starting Medication -- Follow-up Appointments and Strategies -- Medication and Psychotherapy -- Stopping Medication -- The Long Term Patient -- Medication of Sleep Problems -- Alcohol and Mental Health Medication -- Prescribing Psychotropics for Geriatric Patients -- Using Medication with Children and Adolescents -- Pregnancy and Psychotropics -- Rewards and Risks -- The Confused and Agitated Patient -- Medication Pitfalls -- Psychotropic Medications and Side Effects -- Danger Zones -- Medication Allergies -- Serum Blood Levels of Psychotropics -- Generic Medications -- Preparing an Office for Mental Health Prescribing -- Prescription Writing and Record Keeping -- The Telephone -- Mainstay and Millstone -- 'I Took Too Much' -- Misuse of Medication -- 'Difficult' Medication Patients -- And How to Treat Them -- The Pharmacist, the Pharmaceutical Industry and You -- Keeping Current.