Written for pre-hospital providers and mental health professionals, this handbook provides detailed protocols for dealing with behavioral emergencies. Polk is Paramedic Program Director for the Department of Emergency Health Services in Baltimore, and he teams with Mitchell (clinical professor, U. of Maryland) to outline crisis intervention principles, behavioral emergency training and pre- hospital assessment techniques for emotional crises, violent events, suicides and natural disasters. Treatment protocols for substance abuse, psychosis and other disorders are also covered. Each chapter contains quiz questions, tips, best practice summaries and a list of medical terms and vocabulary. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)