Eight years have passed since the first edition of The Handbook of Psychiatry in Palliative Medicine was published. In that time, psychiatric (or psychosocial) palliative care has evolved; the net effect on palliative medicine has been transformative. Palliation that neglects psychosocial dimensions of patient and family experience, de facto, fails to meet contemporary standards of comprehensive palliative care. While a focus on somatic issues has sometimes overshadowed attention to psychological, existential, and spiritual end-of-life challenges, the past decade has seen an all encompassing, multi-disciplinary approach to care for the dying beginning to take hold. The first comprehensive handbook of psychiatric palliative care, this new edition has been fully updated, reorganized and expanded to include eleven new chapters. Written by 67 internationally known psychiatry and palliative care experts, the book is truly an essential reference for all providers of palliative care including psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health counselors, oncologists, hsopice workers and social workers. Each chapter has been updated to address new therapeutic modalities and approaches as well as new research trends and opportunities for each topic.

Harvey Max Chochinov is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and Director of the Manitoba Palliative Care Research Unit, CancerCare Manitoba. He holds the only Canada Research Chair in Palliative Care and is a member of the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He is a recipient of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and his provinces' highest honor, the Order of Manitoba, for his work in palliative care. He was also the 2008 recipient of the National Cancer Institute and Canadian Cancer Society O. Harold Warwick Prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He is the Co-Editor of the Journal Palliative and Support Care. William Breitbart is Chief of the Psychiatry Service and an Attending Psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Breitbart is also an Attending Psychiatrist, in the Pain and Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Breitbart was the recipient of the 2003 Research Award from the Academy of Psychosomatic Society, the 2007 Donald Oken Award from the American Psychosomatic Society, and the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Liaison Psychiatry. Dr. Breitbart is Editor-in-Chief of Palliative Supportive Care, an international palliative care journal.