DSM-IV-TR Handbook of Differential Diagnosis

A succinct reference to help ensure that you consider all the important diagnoses that need to be ruled out during a clinical evaluation. It is a great convenience for busy practitioners and a valuable overview for trainees. The Handbook provides: the six crucial steps in differential diagnosis that must be considered for each and every patient; 27 'decision trees' that teach you how to go from the most common presenting symptoms to a final diagnosis; 62 differential diagnosis tables, each of which provides a head-to-head comparison of a disorder with its differential diagnostic contenders; a unique symptom index for DSM-IV-TR that lists in a convenient form those disorders that you should consider when formulating a differential diagnosis given a particular symptom in the patient's presentation. The information provided in the decision trees, the differential diagnosis tables, and the symptom index is rich with information, each format with its own strengths, depending on the needs of a particular clinical situation. By presenting the problem from a number of different perspectives, this Handbook should improve your skill in formulating a comprehensive differential diagnosis.