The novice in psychiatry requires a skeletal framework which he can clothe progressively with more detail and sophisticated understanding. Without structure the naive in the subject must fail to orientate through to a clearer conceptualization of key and relevant issues in psychiatry today. To allow for the acquisition of basic concepts, review and revision, any provisional framework should of necessity be concise and unpretentious. In this book Dr. Michael Levi has succeeded in creating a good starting point for the retention of new knowledge, which can then be built on through diverse reading and clinical experience. A. Margo, FRCPsych Consultant Psychiatrist IV Introduction The purpose of writing this book is to provide a concise summary of general adult psychiatry in the form of notes. I have based these notes on what is generally regarded to be the most easily readable and evenly 1 written textbook for the MRCPsych examination. The book is intended to have wide readership - particularly among junior hospital psychiatrists, general practitioners and medical students. In addition, the book will also be useful to psychiatric nurses, psychiatric social workers and clinical psychologists. Reference 1. Gelder, M., Gath, D. and Mayou, R (1988). Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry (Oxford: Oxford Medical Publications) v Acknowledgements I wish to thank Dr A. Margo for writing the Foreword to this book.