[Author Affiliation]Richard E. Mattison. Department of Psychiatry, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania.ISBN: 978-0-415-87101-3. New York: Routledge, 2013. 316 pages.Address correspondence to: Richard Mattison, M.D. Department of Psychiatry, H073, Hershey Medical Center, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033, E-Mail: mattison@hmc.psu.eduAlthough teachers, especially special educators, and child psychiatrists both work with youth who have psychiatric disorders, they speak different technical languages, operate in different worlds of experience, and generally do not work side by side or collaborate sufficiently. Given this ongoing background, Shawna Brent, a child psychiatrist who works extensively in schools, has observed that educators wish to know more about psychiatric diagnoses and available treatments. Therefore, she has written a timely book, primarily directed at educators, which communicates in detail how child psychiatrists work and think, pulling back the curtain to answer basic questions.She first describes the process of psychiatric evaluation, formulation, and treatment planning, emphasizing the multiple possible factors that child psychiatrists survey and consider. Such a background can help educators to better understand how exactly child psychiatrists evaluate children and their families, and can subsequently bring to life final reports by child psychiatrists that educators may read. Next, Brent discusses the various consultation roles that child psychiatrists can perform in schools, so that educators can be clear what they can ask for and expect from consultants. An overview of psychopharmacology is then provided, which can be well understood by teachers looking for a readable overview. An accompanying CD provides more detailed information (such as side effects) about the most-used medications, if readers wish to have that level of knowledge.The majority of the book then provides overviews of the major child and adolescent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) disorders, again in digestible detail for educators. Each section features succinct summaries about characteristics, epidemiology, and course, followed by treatment approaches (both medication and non-medication) and some educational implications. The book concludes with an assessment of and treatment approaches to (mainly pharmacological) common serious target symptoms such as physical aggression, descriptions of acute evaluation for the most frequent mental health crises (such as suicidal symptoms), and principles for starting psychotropic medication with children.Throughout the book, clinical cases (some complex), which teachers will recognize, are used liberally, and educators can look over the shoulder of Dr. Brent as she thinks through the cases as a child psychiatrist. A CD also accompanies the book, providing more in-depth information, which the reader may desire on a variety of topics beyond medication. On a related subject, references cited throughout the book appear up to date and not overly technical for an educational audience.The strength of the book is how well it conveys the thinking and working style of child psychiatrists for educators to absorb in a reader-friendly manner. I have not encountered such a book before. As the two disciplines rarely train or even work together, this book provides invaluable insight for educators about child psychiatrists, whom they too often know only through written reports and communications about medication.Although the book will help readers understand better how child psychiatrists assess and treat their student patients, suggestions for how teachers can intervene in the classroom are limited and often general. This criticism is not so much of the author as of the two fields: education (especially special education) and child psychiatry. Neither field has contributed much to its sister field on how to most effectively intervene with problematic students in school, beyond, possibly, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and disruptive behavior disorders. …