Drug-assisted interviews are useful for psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. However, amobarbital, a typical medication used for this purpose, is associated with elevated risk of respiratory depression. Benzodiazepines are good substitutes for amobarbital, with similar therapeutic effects and fewer complications. Although drug-assisted interviews are not widely used, they may be beneficial for ...

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) schizophrenia guideline (2009) recommends that healthcare professionals may consider using psychoanalytic and psychodynamic principles to help them understand patients’ experiences and interpersonal relationships. This is the first of a brief series of articles considering how NICE’s recommendation might be put into practice, outl...

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) schizophrenia guideline (2009) recommends that healthcare professionals may consider using psychoanalytic and psychodynamic principles to help them understand patients’ experiences and interpersonal relationships. This is the first of a brief series of articles considering how NICE’s recommendation might be put into practice, outl...

The Boston group have devoted 10 years to a thoughtful, comprehensive, and much needed study that will undoubtedly become a classic reference in the field. If the emphasis is placed on differences that reached statistical significance, the major finding is minimal outcome differences between exploratory, insight-oriented (EIO) and reality-adaptive, supportive (RAS) therapies with, if anything, ...

This study qualitatively examined an 8-week group exercise and counseling intervention for breast and prostate cancer survivors. Groups exercised 3 days per week, 50 minutes per session, performing moderate-intensity aerobic and resistance training. Groups also underwent 90-minute supportive group psychotherapy sessions once per week. Survivors discussed their experiences in focus groups post i...

The role of therapist characteristics in therapy training was examined for 62 therapists in a multisite psychotherapy outcome study that included cognitive therapy (CT), supportive-expressive (SE) psychodynamic therapy, and individual drug counseling (IDC) for cocaine-dependent patients. Demographic variables and experience and competence ratings prior to training were correlated with measures ...

There is now some evidence that depressed mood is associated with activation of the immune system. First, we evaluated, within a cross-sectional design, NKCA (in vitro) in 49 subjects meeting inclusion criteria either for a major depressive episode, for dysthymia, or for "double depression". We found that recent and long depressive episodes (dysthymia) are associated with a lower immunodepressi...

We describe a psychodynamic treatment modified for patients with severe personality disorders identified as borderline personality disorder in DSM-IV, Axis II, and understood as borderline personality organization from a psychoanalytic perspective. This treatment is labeled transferencefocused psychotherapy (TFP) in order to highlight the centrality of working with these patients in the here-an...

INTRODUCTION A confusing variety of options are available for the treatment of depressive disorders. METHOD Selective literature review under consideration of current guidelines. RESULTS The treatment of depression can be divided into acute, maintenance and prophylactic phases. The basic forms of treatment are pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, and supportive strategies. The approximately 30 a...