Unmasking Psychological Symptoms – How Therapists Can Learn to Recognize the Psychological Presentation of Medical Disorders

More than 100 medical diseases-many common ailments-are capable of masquerading as mental disorders. This book shows clinicians how to identify patients who are most likely to have an underlying physical ailment and how to direct them to a targeted medical work-up. With guidance on working with patients during the referral process and afterward, as well as on integrating medical findings into ongoing therapeutic work, clinicians will benefit from the practical advice on recognizing signs, symptoms, and patterns of medical diseases that may be underlying a psychologically presenting malady.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments ix 1 The Nature of the Problem 1 2 Laying the Groundwork 11 3 Characteristics That Make Somatic Diseases Difficult to Detect 21 4 Patterns in Time 61 5 The Clinical Interview 83 6 The History of the Present Illness 97 7 Specific Physical Signs and Symptoms 103 8 Classical Presentations-Focal Signs, Dementia, and Delirium 129 9 Specific Mental Signs and Symptoms 149 10 Important Aspects of the Patient Assessment-A Second Look 223 11 Extended Clinical Vignettes-Working With Patients 241 References 277 Author Index 281 Subject Index 283

About the Author :
Barbara Schildkrout , MD, is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. She has taught for many years at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Boston Institute for Psychotherapy. She is a board-certified psychiatrist and has had a private clinical practice in the Boston area for over twenty-five years.

Review :
" Unmasking Psychological Symptoms: How Therapists Can Learn to Recognize the Psychological Presentation of Medical Disorders is designed to help therapists bridge the gaps in their expertise between psychology and medicine so as to prepare them to better understand their patients and have a higher index of suspicion about medical factors that may affect them. The tone and scope render Unmasking Psychological Symptoms an ideal read for therapists... Schildkrout does an excellent job throughout the book of initially presenting information in the psychological manner that a therapist might typically consider it and then elucidating what the same information may suggest from a medical perspective. Her approach does not feel condescending to a nonmedically trained therapist but rather offers a different perspective that may simply result in a desire to be more thoughtful in clinical practice... Unmasking Psychological Symptoms makes an excellent companion to psychology and psychiatry textbooks, especially those related to health psychology and consultation--liaison psychiatry." ( PsycCRITIQUES , May 16, 2012, Vol. 57, Release 19, Article 8)