Developmental Psychopathology. Vol. 1 : Theory and Methods / Vol. 2 : Risk, Disorder and Adaptation (2 vols., complete set).

These important volumes offer a new perspective on mental illness which links mental disorder to normal development. Each prominent author strives to elucidate the reciprocally-informing nature of normal and abnormal development, thereby contributing to theoretical advances in these respective areas. Volume 1 covers the history, theory and techniques of this new viewpoint and examines the relationship between developmental psychopathology and genetics, neuropsychology, epidemiology and ethology. It also explores the implications for psychometric theory. Volume 2 deals with assessment, classification and diagnosis; risk factors including maltreatment and family discord; and disorders ranging from retardation through addictions to schizophrenia.

Given the purpose of this handbook as a comprehensive resource and a vehicle for sparking continued scientific discovery, we can say without reservation that its purpose has been fulfilled and that this three-volume set makes a major contribution in cataloging and synthesizing existing knowledge about developmental psychopathology. Regardless of the reader's background, training, specialty, or area of concentration, this handbook has significant utility and vast applicability for all readers interested in typical or atypical childhood development. Each volume makes an important contribution, and, although it is expensive, we believe this collection should be considered a must have in both personal and institutional libraries.

...the book is enormous not only in page number but in the size of the contribution it makes to the field.

...a compilation of chapters written by some of the most eminent researchers across multiple fields of study. Coedited by Dante Cicchetti and the late Donald J. Cohen, the second edition of Developmental Psychopathology will be extremely useful to researchers, practitioners, and instructors of graduate-level seminars.

...one of the greatest strengths of this handbook is that a few overarching themes are interwoven throughout. [The four main themes are]...the bidirectional nature of development, [that]...it is not fruitful to look for any single variable, factor, or pathway to be the one and only predictor of psychopathology, [that]...research designs and data analyses must be sufficiently sophisticated to extrapolate and, if necessary, differentiate the mechanisms and the conditions that produce outcomes, [and finally] that many unanswered questions remain.- - Nicole Renick Thomson and Andy Belden