Kaplan and Sadocks Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 11e

Foreword

A BRIEF HISTORY Harvey Cushing (1869–1939), the father of modern neurosurgery wrote a biography of Sir William Osler for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. In that book he described Osler’s writing of his famous Text book of Medicine . Osler devoted his life to that magnum opus which prompted Cushing to write the following: The birth of a success ful textbook, like that of a child, may hold its authors in unexpected bondage . That saying resonated with us. The first edition of the Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry (CTP) was published in 1967, over 55 years ago. Now in its 11th edi tion, it is the most widely used psychiatric textbook in this country and around the world, translated into several languages. The book has been well received not only by mental health professionals but also by reviewers. The Journal of the American Medical Association pub lished many reviews of the book using terms like “well-organized, up to date, comprehensive” among other laudatory phrases. It has been called “a university without walls.” A foreword is rarely written by an author or editor of a previous edition of a book. So, we were surprised, pleased, and honored to be offered this opportunity by the editors. It gave us a chance to reflect on our work. To help us we decided to review the forewords written by others and the prefaces written by us. This would help jog our memories. We decided to take excerpts from some of the forewords to let the reader know how the editions evolved and how the issues facing the field changed over these many years. The book began as the brainchild of Harold Kaplan, M.D. (1928–1998) who wanted to develop a textbook in psychiatry that would rival the great textbooks of medicine like Nelson’s Text book of Pediatrics or the Cecil Textbook of Medicine . He eventu ally achieved this objective but not before several rejections. One major medical publishing house rejected the project commenting that “trying to get a group of psychiatrists to collaborate would be like trying to herd cats.” Years later, that same publisher said it was the biggest mistake they had ever made. One editor did accept the proposal, Chuck Reville at Williams & Wilkins (now Wolters Kluwer). Unfortunately, Harold passed away in 1998 after the sixth edition was published, and we dedicated the seventh edition to him: In addition to his academic career, Dr. Kaplan was a clinical psychiatrist who maintained a large and active practice. He believed strongly in the art and science of psychotherapy, and although trained as a psychoanalyst, he followed no particular school. He was eclectic in the true sense of the word; he applied the best of each school in his work with patients. His vast clini cal experience allowed him to create a textbook of value to basic behavioral scientists and more importantly, to clinicians. As an editor, Dr. Kaplan was a hard task master who demanded perfec tion. He encouraged each contributor, exhorted them when necessary, and expected and received their best work.

In Harold’s last sixth edition, the following was written about the editor to be. In all our previous books, she (VS) served as an assistant to the edi tors and actively participated in every editorial decision. Her enthusiasm, sensitivity, comprehension, and depth of psychiatric knowledge were of immeasurable importance. She has ably represented not only the viewpoint of women in medicine but has also made many contributions to the content of this textbook. The text could not have come into being or have continued with out our contributors. We ended each preface thanking them for their cooperation and participation. As each edition appeared and the repu tation of the text became more apparent, it was easier to recruit con tributors. We sought experts in their respective fields who were often persons who developed or originated an area of study. Aaron Beck is one example. Having developed cognitive behavioral therapy, he wrote the chapter on CBT for the textbook. Arvid Carlsson, the Nobel laureate who discovered dopamine was another. Our practice was to invite contributors and stay in touch with them by telephone. That contact with them was effective in getting them to complete their sections on time, a major concern for editors of a multi-authored textbook. And those phone calls enabled us to get to know our contributors personally, a rewarding and valuable fringe benefit of editing this book. To date over 2,000 psychiatrists, psychologists and behavioral scientists have written sections for the book. Some are long gone but their work lives on in the various editions of the book that can be accessed via the internet. We consider many of their contributions to be classics. As the book expanded we added a third editor, Pedro Ruiz, (1936–2023) a close personal and professional associate, to the ninth edition. At the time he was Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and President of the World Psy chiatric Association. His participation immeasurably enhanced and facilitated our work. The first Foreword did not appear until the fourth edition. It was written by Robert Cancro, M.D., who was at the time Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at New York University. He analyzed the prior editions. The first brought structure and disci pline into the field; the second and third increased our understanding of clinical psychiatry by including basic science; and the fourth inte grated the application of neuroscience as crucial to understanding the problems of patients. He went on. It is awkward for this writer to acknowledge the debt to Harold Kaplan and Benjamin Sadock, because, in addition to being colleagues they are per sonal friends and members of the same faculty. It is an irony of Western cul ture that one can acknowledge indebtedness to a stranger more easily than to those who are near and dear. The time and effort demanded of them to make this book possible is known to only a handful of people.

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