Sections
Combining Supportive Psychotherapy With Medication: Introduction | Theoretical Rationale | Research on the Combination of Supportive Psychotherapy
and Pharmacotherapy | Key Definitions | Benefits and Risks of Combining Supportive Psychotherapy
and Pharmacotherapy | Frame of Treatment | Phases of Treatment | Supportive Psychotherapy Techniques in the Context
of Pharmacotherapy | The Therapeutic Relationship in Concurrent Supportive
Psychotherapy and Pharmacotherapy | Combining and Phasing Treatments | Incorporating Other Treatment Approaches | Limits of Supportive Psychotherapy When Added to Pharmacotherapy | Conclusion | Key Points | References | Suggested Readings
Excerpt
It is commonly believed that optimal outcome
of treatment for many psychiatric disorders can be achieved by combining
pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. Supportive psychotherapy (SPT)
is most likely the most frequently used modality of psychotherapy
in current clinical practice (Tanielian et al. 2001).
In the 1998 National Survey of Psychiatric Practice, 36% of
patients treated by psychiatrists received supportive psychotherapy
versus 19% receiving insight-oriented therapy, 6% receiving
cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and 1% receiving psychoanalysis
(Tanielian et al. 2001). Recently, the development
of competency in SPT has become a requirement of residency training in
the United States, and a number of texts about SPT have been published
in recent years. Since the introduction of selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitors (SSRIs) in the late 1980s, an increasing proportion of
psychiatric patients have been treated with pharmacotherapy. From
82% to 90% of patients in psychiatrists' caseloads
receive medications (Pincus et al. 1999; Tanielian et al. 2001).