Psychotherapy and Medication : The Challenge of Integration

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?

Fredric N. Busch, M.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and a faculty member of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He is on the editorial board of Psychoanalytic Inquiry. Dr. Busch has authored over 30 publications as well as 10 books or book chapters.

Larry S. Sandberg, M.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical Center and Lecturer in Psychiatry at Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He maintains a private practice in psychoanalysis and adult psychiatry.