Core Psychiatry by Julian Stern (The London Hospital, London, UK)
This book covers everything in the MRCPsych syllabus that a trainee psychiatrist needs to know in order to pass the exam. The book originates from a successful MTCPsych training course that teaches many exam candidates each year. The book is divided three parts. Part I (The Foundations of Psychiatry) describes the historical development of psychiatry and the basic sciences with which all psychiatrists must be familiar, including such rapidly expanding fields as psychiatric genetics, and discusses the skills required when reviewing scientific publications. Part II (Clinical Psychiatry) describes the major psychiatric syndromes and disorders, including the sequelae of childhood sexual abuse, and provides a detailed discussion of community psychiatry. Finally, Part III (Diagnosis, Investigation and Treatment) describes how patients should be interviewed and examined and how a diagnosis should be made, provides accounts of contemporary psychotherapeutic, psychopharmacological and other treatments, and discusses contemporary investigational techniques.