The second edition of An Introduction to Child Psychiatry is a compact, easily readable book which covers a wide variety of problems of children and their families. It follows the first edition by about ten years and brings into sharper focus the author's increasing attention to the constitutional differences between infants and children as important factors in development.
In general, the book is an overview of the whole field of child psychiatry. It begins with a chapter on the history and goes on through the development of the child, the problems of history taking, the diagnostic interview, and special diagnostic procedures such as psychological testing. It covers the classification of emotional and mental problems in children, mental retardation, brain-damaged children, and those with psychosis. There is a chapter devoted to learning disabilities and one to problems associated with special stress situations. Another chapter deals with problems of adolescents and another