Adjustment Disorder

Book excerpt: Although adjustment disorders (AD) have been included in the major psychiatric diagnostic classifications for over 50 years, no book devoted solely to the topic of AD's has been published to date. Apart from scant coverage in psychiatric textbooks, there is little to assist the doctor or therapist in understanding or making a diagnosis of AD. The result is the under-recognition of AD's in settings where it is believed to be a common condition. In general practice, where AD's are said to be the most common disorder, they are seldom recognized and are misdiagnosed as depressive illness (major depressive disorder) or generalized anxiety disorder. Even among psychiatrists, AD's are underdiagnosed, except in consultation-liaison psychiatry, and even there, changes in diagnostic practice are afoot. Adjustment Disorder: From Controversy to Clinical Practice provides concise and comprehensive information on AD's and advances a greater understanding and better diagnostic skills among those clinicians working with this group of patients. This accessible and clinically driven book is amplified by up-to-date theoretical information such as exploring the psychobiology of AD's, considering the best evidence-based treatments, and touching on the philosophical questions that AD's raise, such as whether AD's are actually a disease. The chapters follow a natural progression beginning with the history and controversies, through to epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment, then addressing the biology of AD's and concluding with an examination of AD's in special groups such as children and adolescents as well as in medico-legal settings.