"This volume should head the list of user-friendly guides to psychiatric diagnosis. Frances draws on his considerable experience and contributions, such as heading the DSM-IV Task Force, to produce a work that will be indispensable for primary care clinicians and all professionals and students in mental health care. The guide contains screening questions, prototypic case descriptions, ICD-9-CM codes, and specific cautionary statements to reduce diagnostic inflation and raise concerns about aspects of DSM-5. The material is handled with sensitivity and compassion, with the patient's best interests always the central consideration. This book is a welcome arrival at a time when recent trends in diagnosis are increasingly attracting controversy. I will be using this excellent guide in my own work and will recommend it to my students and colleagues." - Adrian Wells, University of Manchester, United Kingdom "This easy-to-read, commonsensical handbook guides mental health clinicians through the thicket of differential diagnosis in psychiatry. Frances-a thoughtful and effective critic of the excesses of DSM-5-shows where diagnosis is valid and essential, and where a premature diagnosis or a diagnostic fad has the potential to hurt patients. Everyone who uses diagnosis in daily practice will benefit from the down-to-earth wisdom of this book." - Joel Paris, MD, McGill University, Canada "With his clinical expertise, leadership roles in prior DSM editions, and healthy skepticism about overdiagnosis and excessive medication, Frances has crafted a clinical gem. This clear and concise book describes a sequential assessment process and provides screening questions, easily remembered prototypic descriptions, differential diagnostic considerations, and cautionary notes about diagnostic traps. Frances recognizes the need for a diagnosis to guide intervention, while steering clear of diagnostic reification. All clinicians need this book for frequent reference, and it should be a required text in mental health training programs." - John F. Clarkin, PhD, New York Presbyterian Hospital, USA "This uncluttered, visually appealing guide will assist all primary care physicians in the care of patients with psychiatric illnesses." - Elizabeth S. White, MD, internist, Settlement Health, New York City

Allen Frances, MD, is a clinician, educator, researcher, and leading authority on psychiatric diagnosis. He chaired the DSM-IV Task Force, was a member of the Task Force that prepared DSM-III-R, and wrote the final version of the Personality Disorders section in DSM-III. The author of several hundred papers and more than a dozen books, most recently Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life, Dr. Frances is Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University. He is an active blogger for The Huffington Post, Psychology Today, and Education Update.

How to Use This Book. Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Childhood and Adolescence. Depressive Disorders. Bipolar Disorders. Anxiety Disorders. Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders. Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders. Substance-Related Disorders and Behavioral Addictions. Neurocognitive Disorders. Personality Disorders. Impulse Control Disorders. Eating Disorders. Sleep-Wake Disorders. Sexual and Gender Issues. Disorders Related to Physical Symptoms. Dissociative Disorders. Codes for Conditions That May be a Focus of Clinical Attention but Are Not Mental Disorders.