Although "using both medications and psychotherapy in all patients may not necessarily be most cost-efficient or most effective," according to Beitman (psychiatry, U. of Missouri-Columbia) and his collaborators, it seems important to determine when monotreatment, combined therapy, or integrated treatment may be the best choice. They overview the issues involved in such therapies, and then focus in on research perspectives and understandings of psychodynamic neurobiology. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Integrating Psychotherapy and Psychopharmacology: A Handbook for Clinicians is a practical guide for the growing number of mental-health practitioners searching for information on treatments that combine psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, and psychosocial rehabilitation. Research shows that combined approaches are among the most effective ways to treat an increasing number of psychiatric disorders. However, though these combined treatments are becoming the everyday practice of psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental-health professionals, identifying the right treatment plan can be notoriously difficult, and clinicians are often left scrambling to answer questions about how to design and customize their treatment strategies. In Integrating Psychotherapy and Psychopharmacology, readers will find these questions fully addressed and the answers explained, and they’ll come away from the book with a toolbox full of strategies for helping their patients improve symptoms, achieve remission, and stay well using a combination of drug and psychological treatments.

The rapid transformation of clinical care models in new health systems means that competence in integrated and split/collaborative care is vital for both long-established clinicians and psychiatric professionals in the early stages of their careers.

The 13 years between the publication of the original edition of the handbook and this second edition have been marked by memorable growth in psychotherapy integration. The original classic was the first compilation of the early integrative approaches and was hailed by one reviewer as "the bible of the integration movement." In the interim, psychotherapy integration has grown into a mature, empirically supported, and international movement. This second edition provides a state-of-the-art, comprehensive description of psychotherapy and its clinical practices by leading proponents. In addition to updates of all of the chapters, the new edition features: (1) eight new chapters covering topics such as cognitive-analytic therapy, integrative psychotherapy with culturally diverse clients, cognitive-behavioral analysis system, and blending spirituality with psychotherapy, (2) an entirely new section with two chapters on assimilative integration, (3) updated reviews of the empirical research on integrative and eclectic treatments, (4) chapter guidelines that facilitate comparative analyses and ensure comprehensiveness, and (5) a summary outline to help readers compare the integrative approaches. Blending the best of clinical expertise, empirical research, and theoretical pluralism, the revision of this "integration bible" will prove invaluable to practitioners, researchers, and students alike.

Over the past two decades, the use of medication combined with psychotherapy or psychoanalysis has shifted from an infrequent occurrence to common practice. Concurrently, attitudes toward medication have changed from viewing this intervention as disruptive or as a last resort to a welcome aid in the psychotherapeutic or psychoanalytic process. However, this relatively rapid change has created difficulty in the integration of medication use into the psychotherapeutic setting. Psychotherapy and Medication is an exceptionally valuable and timely volume that provides psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and other mental health professionals with information on how to work with medication theoretically, clinically, and technically in the context of a psychotherapeutic or psychoanalytic treatment. Important areas of discussion include evidence that a change in the use of medication has taken place, an examination of the factors that have led to this shift, as well as a review of the issues and questions about combining treatments. Psychotherapy and Medication also serves as a framework in how to best answer the many questions that have arisen as the willingness of analysts to use medication increases. Such significant questions include: How should analysts introduce patients to medication? What are the clinical advantages of combined treatment? What is the impact of medication discussions and prescribing on the analyst’s role and how is this best handled?

This essential work provides the ideal text for psychiatry residents who need to develop and demonstrate competency in providing psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy in both integrated and split approaches -- a competency required by the Residency Review Committee in Psychiatry. Clinically and developmentally oriented, Competency in Combining Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy: Integrated and Split Treatment focuses on competencies in adult psychiatry in the outpatient setting. The authors detail guidelines for assessing residents' competency to provide both integrated treatment (delivered by one professional) and split treatment (delivered in collaboration by two or more professionals). They present these guidelines in two main standalone sections, which can and should be read separately. Both sections deal with similar problems and thus contain similar information, such as selection of medication and psychotherapy, evaluation and opening, sequencing and maintenance, and termination of integrated and split treatments. Today, the combination of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy is the most widely used treatment modality for a broad range of psychiatric disorders. Many clinicians believe that it is also far more efficacious and beneficial than either modality used alone. This volume ably addresses some of the more complicated aspects of combining treatments, such as how patient presentation affects pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, the timing and staging of combined treatment, which therapies should be used in combination with pharmacotherapy, and which professionals should be included in split treatment. This eminently practical volume will be welcomed by residents and training directors alike as an integral part of all psychiatric residency training programs, and will also be useful to nurse practitioners, physician assistants, social workers, and psychologists.