Dr Gareth Owen studied philosophy and physics before starting medicine at the Royal Free and University College Medical School, qualifying in 1999. He subsequently trained in general medicine and clinical neuroscience at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, before starting clinical and research training in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry in 2002. He is a clinical senior lecturer at King's College London and holds a Wellcome Trust University Award to do research in mental health law and ethics. He works as a consultant psychiatrist in the Lambeth Home Treatment Team for the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

Simon Wessely is Professor and Head of the Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London and the President of Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is a Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist at King's College and the Maudsley Hospitals. His doctorate is in epidemiology, and he has over 700 original publications, with an emphasis on the boundaries of medicine and psychiatry, unexplained symptoms and syndromes, population reactions to adversity, military health, epidemiology and others. He has co-authored books on chronic fatigue syndrome, randomised controlled trials and a history of military psychiatry.

Robin Murray is Professor of Psychiatric Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College and indeed has spent most of his working life there apart from one year at NIMH in the USA. His particular interest is in psychosis, and he and his colleagues have contributed to the understanding that environmental factors such as obstetric events, drug abuse and social adversity dysregulate striatal dopamine and thus increase the risk of schizophrenia-like psychoses; he is currently most interested in gene-environmental interactions. He is also involved in testing new treatments for psychotic illnesses, and cares for people with psychosis at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. He has written over 700 articles, not all of them boring! He is the most frequently cited schizophrenia researcher outside the USA, has supervised 52 PhDs and 40 of his students have become full professors. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2010 and received a knighthood in 2011.

• 1: The psychiatric interview with adults


• 2: Psychosocial assessments with adults


• 3: The psychiatric interview with children


• 4: The mental state examination


• 5: Neuropsychiatric assessment


• 6: The formulation, the summary, and progress notes


• 7: Special interview situations


• 8: Special problems


• 9: Treatments


• 10: Mental Health Law


• Appendix 1: The AUDIT questionnaire


• Appendix 2: Addenbrookes' Cognitive Examination


• Appendix 3: The 'SAD PERSONS' scale


• Appendix 4: Alcohol Withdrawal Assessment Scoring Guidelines (CIWA - Ar)


• Appendix 5: Antipsychotic depot injections: suggested adult doses and frequencies


• Appendix 6: Equivalent doses, maximum daily doses, and adverse effects of antipsychotics


• Appendix 7: Clozapine: management of adverse effects