Neurology & Psychiatry

Lectures and Clinical Pearls

This “easy to read” book has hundreds of interesting clinical tips and pearls that you can apply day-to-day. Most of these pearls you won’t find in standard texts. I include major sections on neurology and general medicine. Psychiatry pearls are also discussed. I also describe the fascinating and relevant topic of evolutionary medicine. While the book is geared towards physicians, patients have also enjoyed reading previous editions.
The first part of the book is the extensive neurology section. I have concentrated mostly on outpatient neurology. These are cutting edge neurology clinical pearls. Topics include migraine, secondary headaches, genetics of migraine, refractory migraine, neuropathy, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, Parkinson’s and other movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, Functional Neurologic Disorder (FND), and others.
Next is the general medicine and practice pearls: Samples: How to manage difficult patients and those with a personality disorder…Why you cannot trust the adverse events profiles from the Phase 3 studies…Generics: they are not all the same, some may work, others may not…Boundary issues are crucial in the office…”It takes a village” to help certain patients (those with personality disorders, severe pain, etc.)…How to “medicalize” anxiety and depression to patients….Catastrophizing, self-efficacy, acceptance, and resilience…Placebo and nocebo “by proxy”….and hundreds more….
Next we have a section of pearls in psychiatry. There are sections on the bipolar spectrum, as well as on personality disorders. Finally we have a number of interesting (combined) psychiatric and neurologic cases.
Our final section is a fascinating discussion of evolutionary medicine. This is an important and emerging field. Evolutionary medicine is very relevant, and I discuss it every day with students and patients.