The Psychotherapy of Giving Medications: Therapeutic Techniques for Interpersonal Interventions

The brief duration and structured mileu of medication follow-up sessions can be effectively used for psychotherapy. We have borrowed interventions from long-term and time-limited psychotherapy to be adapted for use in this special therapeutic environment. We describe interventions based on therapeutic work within the interpersonal context of the family system (“family systems process”), enforcing patients’ appropriate behavior, control and mastery (“role modeling mental health”), and therapist observation of internal transference responses (“transference interpretation”). Specific examples are given from the treatment of a young man and his family.