In this relatively small volume of articles, Guze and colleagues have managed to bring together a remarkable breadth and depth of current thinking and research in child psychiatry, with provocative articles by many of the outstanding contributors to the contemporary scene. The text benefits from thoughtful organization and a systematic treatment of several areas, some of which have been addressed rather extensively. Examples include Dennis Cantwell's presentation of "Childhood Depression" and others that deal with areas of relatively esoteric interest to child psychiatrists, such as the study by Folstein and co-workers who traced the association between conduct disorder and affective disorders in the children of patients with Huntington's disease.
Although the text is divided into five well-balanced segments, ie, epidemiology, diagnosis and classification, treatment, neurobiology, and genetics, the keynote address that defines the relevance of the whole volume is found midway through in an article entitled "Child Psychiatry: Taking Stock,"