The Glaucomas

This sixth edition, a work well known to psychiatrists on both sides of the Herring Pond, continues to provide essential facts in neuropsychiatry in a concise, well-planned volume. Apart from bringing the material up to date, two new subjects receive attention in this work-those of neurochemistry and central modulation of sensory perception, both of which have been subjects of important symposia recently. The discussion on pain has been considerably enlarged and now appears in a relevant context in a number of chapters. As the most important single topic in medicine, it has received all too little attention in the past; now it is treated at anatomical, neurological and psychological levels. It is a pity that Professor Cobb has omitted the work by Hardy, Wolff and colleagues on pain threshold. Their findings that, for example, the anxious individual experiences pain earlier and more intensely than does the placid or depressed patient undergoing identical physical stimulation has important implications, not only in psychiatry, but in general practice, where pain is the most frequent symptom and over one third of the patients are suffering from some form of psychological stress. Both bibliography and index are rather short for a book of this size and importance, but they are not inadequate and selection has been good. D.P.M. students will find this an extremely useful text, for with this new edition it remains the best introduction to the subject in print today. L.R.C.H.