The book begins with a review of basic neuroscience and methods for studying neurobiology in human patients then proceeds to discussions of all major psychiatric syndromes with respect to knowledge of their etiology, pathophysiology, and treatment. Emphasis is placed on synthesizing information across numerous levels of analysis, including molecular biology and genetics, cellular physiology, neuroanatomy, neuropharmacology, and behavior, and in translating information from the basic laboratory to the clinical laboratory and finally to clinical treatment.

Editors Dennis Charney and Eric Nestle, along with their six section editors and over 150 contributors, have revised and updated all 80 chapters from the previous edition and have added new chapters on topics relating to, for example, genetics, experimental therapeutics, and late-life mood disorders. Both a textbook and a reference book, Neurobiology of Mental Illness is intended for psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and upper level students.