Medical students and young doctors starting a post in psychiatry face a stressful and potentially bewildering few months. They often feel unprepared to cope with the unique problems and questions that mental illness presents. How do I talk and listen to schizophrenic patients? How do I cope with distress and aggression, or assess suicide risk? How can I help a grieving patient? This book offers practical guidance and encouragement in all areas of psychiatric medicine. Aiming to bridge the gap between undergraduate and postgraduate texts, it advises on coping with unfamiliar situations and emergencies, and helps trainees to use new skills and to make sense of their growing experience. Early chapters cover the psychiatric interview and examination, and the common presentations of psychiatric illness. These are followed by descriptions of presenting problems, principles of management and the book concludes with a factual overview of the syndromes and illnesses encountered. "Practical Psychiatry" is aimed particularly at medical students, and doctors starting their first psychiatry job, but should also be useful to house officers, GPs, and any reader involved in this branch of medicine.