The Clinician’s Guide to Common Psychiatric Disorders A Pocketbook for Diagnosis and Treatment

This book is an easy-to-read resource that covers the most common psychiatric illnesses and preferred pharmacological treatments for said illnesses. This guidebook will assist providers new to the field of psychiatry to better understand how to treat common psychiatric disorders. What follows is the accumulation of 30 years of experience paired with an eagerness to help those overwhelmed by the field of psychiatry, just as the authors once were.

The book is broken down into chapters that each cover a different illness. Each chapter briefly describes the diagnostic criteria of the illness, usually using a mnemonic to help memorize the criteria, and includes other information that may prove useful to the novice clinician. Chapters cover risk factors for the illness and common screening scales used for each diagnosis. This leads into the first-line preferred treatment. Some chapters, such as Depression, will have an easy-to-follow algorithm that covers what to do if treatment fails. Second-line treatments and off-label usage are clearly outlined throughout the book. Each medication will have the recommended starting dose of the drug according to the package insert of the medication as well as common titration methods. Maximum recommended dosages are also outlined. Drug profiles will describe the most common side effects as well as FDA indications. Each category will continue with recommended monitoring for the drug and pearls from the authors.

The Clinician's Guide to Common Psychiatric Disorders is a book intended for any provider that may prescribe psychiatric medications, whether it be a primary care physician, a physician’s assistant, or a nurse practitioner working in family medicine, or a resident just starting out in psychiatry.

1. Depressive Disorders.- 2. Anxiety Disorders.- 3. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).- 4. Bipolar Disorder.- 5. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).- 6. Insomnia.- 7. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).- 8. Substance Use and Abuse.- 9. Schizophrenia.- 10. Eating Disorders.

Brooks Floyd is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at Comprehensive Behavioral Health, a private office located in Staunton, Virginia. His healthcare career started in 2010 as a critical care nurse in the Surgical Trauma and Burn Intensive Care Unit at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. Later, he went back to school to become a Family Nurse Practitioner in 2017 where he graduated with a Master’s degree in nursing. He started his career in psychiatry in 2020, working for Deer Oaks, a medication management company specializing in geriatrics, based out of Texas. Brooks went on to obtain his Post-Master’s certificate as a PMHNP from Liberty University in 2022. He began precepting new students in June of 2023. 

Dr. Kane is the founder of and medical director for Comprehensive Behavioral Health, a community mental health clinic serving tens of thousands of patients in the Shenandoah Valley and surrounding area. Up to 300 clients per day are seen at Comprehensive, where Dr Kane supervises nurse practitioners and physician associates as well as teaching medical students and PA students from local universities. Dr Kane obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Virginia. He did his Residency at UVA where he served as Chief Resident. Dr Kane has worked in multiple arenas: two decades of in-patient hospital, nursing homes, juvenile detention centers, and prisons. He has served as medical director of Behavioral Health Services in the local community hospital since the year 2000.