Book excerpt: This book discusses the disease causes and mechanisms, pattern discrimination, treatment principles, and Chinese medical treatmnet of more than 20 traditional Chinese psychiatric diseases as well as the same information on 12 modern Western psychiatric disorders. Each chapter dealing with either a traditional or modern disease category also includes extensive information on the Western medical nosology, etiology, differential diagnosis, pathophysiology, epidemiology, treatment, side effects, and criteria for referral written by a Western psychiatrist. There are also abstracts of recent Chinese and Western research as well as multiple case histories.