Schatzberg’s differentiation between "anxious distress" and "melancholic features" dictates the pharmacological approach. He reminds us that for true melancholia (the cortisol-driven, psychomotor retarded, early morning awakening patient), standard SSRIs are often weak. He pushes the clinician toward the older, more potent tools: the MAOIs (Phenelzine/Tranylcypromine) or high-dose Venlafaxine.
If you are a clinician, reading Schatzberg feels like a supervision session with a brilliant, gruff, and deeply empathetic attending. He doesn't care about your ego; he cares about the patient who can't afford the newest brand-name drug, or the patient who has been on a benzodiazepine for 20 years and needs a humane taper. If you are a clinician, reading Schatzberg feels
Whether you call it the Manual of Clinical Psychopharmacology or simply "Schatzberg," if you prescribe psychotropics, this book does not belong on a shelf. It belongs on your desk, within arm’s reach. It belongs on your desk, within arm’s reach
Now in its multiple editions (with new editions released regularly to keep pace with FDA approvals), the manual has grown from a pocket-sized guide into a comprehensive, yet still accessible, standard reference. It belongs on your desk