IAHPC BOOK REVIEW

HANDBOOK OF PSYCHIATRY 
IN PALLIATIVE MEDICINE

Harvey Chochinov and William Breitbart (Eds)

Oxford University Press 2000 435pp ISBN 019 509 299-6 RRP $US82.50 £52.50

Part I includes good reviews of anxiety, delirium and depression; the difficulties experienced in diagnosing depression in physically ill palliative care patients are described but no practical guidance offered. Part II includes interesting chapters on the psychiatric aspects of treating pain, eating disorders and fatigue—symptoms in which physical and psychological factors interact and overlap. Part III describes the range of different psychotherapeutic interventions and Part IV is about pediatric palliative care. Part V includes discussions on family issues, communication and bereavement, as well as a useful chapter on staff stress. Part VI includes chapters on ethical and spiritual issues and the treatment of suffering.

Given the frequency and importance of psychiatric and psychosocial problems, this book will be a very useful resource for practitioners of palliative care and certainly should be available for reference in the library of any palliative care unit.

Roger Woodruff
Director of Palliative Care, Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia
(December 2002)

Author Information

Harvey Chochinov is Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Manitoba and Head, Department of Psychosocial Oncology, CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

William Breitbart  is Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College, Cornell University, New York, USA

Table of Contents

PART I Psychiatric Complications of Terminal Illness

1. Hospice: A psychiatric perspective 3

Parkes

2. Care and management of the patient at the end of life 13

assem

3. Diagnosis and management of depression in palliative care 25

Wilson, Chochinov, de Faye, Breitbart

4. Suicide, assisted suicide and euthanasia in the terminally ill n51

Rosenfeld, Krivo, Breitbart, Chochinov

5. Anxiety in palliative care 63

Payne, Massie

6. Delirium in the terminally ill 75

Breitbart, Cohen

7. Palliative care in the chronically mentally ill 91

Goldenberg, Holland, Schachter

PART II Symptom Management

8. Physical symptom management in the terminally ill: an overview of mental health professionals  99

Portenoy

9. Psychiatric aspects of pain management in patients with advanced cancer and AIDS 131

Breitbart, Payne

10. Psychiatric management of eating disorders in palliative care management of cancer patients 161

Lesko

11. Psychiatric aspects of fatigue in the terminally ill 175

Abbey

PART III Psychotherapeutic intervention and palliative care

12. Individual psychotherapy for the patient with advanced disease 189

Rodin, Gillies

13. Existential psychotherapy in palliative care 197

Spira

14. The supportive relationship, the psychodynamic life narrative, and the dying patient 215

Viederman

15. A cognitive-behavioural approach to symptom management in palliative care: augmenting

somatic intervention 223

Turk, Feldman

16. Group psychotherapy in the terminally ill 241

Spiegel, Stein, Earhart, Diamond

PART IV Paediatric Palliative Care

17. Psychiatric care of the terminally ill child 225

tuber, Bursch

18. Psychotherapy with the dying child 265

Sourkes

PART V Family and Staff Issues

19. Family issues and palliative care 275

Wellisch

20. Communication with terminally ill patients and their relatives 291

  Maguire

21. Burnout and symptoms of stress in staff working in palliative care 303

Vachon

22. Understanding and managing bereavement in palliative care 321

  Zisook

PART VI Ethical and Spiritual Issues

23. Ethical issues in palliative care 337

Pellegrino

24. Addressing the needs of the patient who requests physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia 349

McDonald, Passik, Coyle

25. Spiritual care of the dying patient 357

Kearney, Mount

26. The treatment of suffering in patients with advanced cancer

Cherny

PART VII Research Issues

27. Quality assurance and audit in palliative care 399

Higginson

28. New directives for psychosocial research in palliative medicine 407

Breuera

Index 413