Child Temperament: New Thinking About the Boundary Between Traits and Illness (Norton Professional Book) Hardcover – Illustrated, September 23, 2013

This book is a major disappointment. It claims to be "a synthesized update on what has been learned and how temperament affects the development of mental illness." In fact, the book fails to include any of the extensive significant clinical literature, which should be the main substance of such a review.

Parents, teachers and psychologists will find Dr. David Rettew's new book interesting as it discusses temperament types and parenting styles. The book begins with a short history and progresses to an analysis of temperament studies. There is a discussion as to why genes and the environment are responsible for various traits.Some of the disorders discussed in this book include oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, OCD, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, psychotic disorders and autism.I felt this book would help parents understand their children better and help them decide for example when shyness has become a social anxiety disorder.~The Rebecca ReviewI received this book free for review. This review is my honest opinion.

An outstanding text on child temperament. The author puts together a wonderful combination of research and clinical technique in a way that is at once complex yet accessible. This is a subject that as a clinician I've been trying to come to terms with for years, and Dr. Rettew puts it into a context that makes academic and real-world sense.