Psychotherapy for neurologists.

Full Abstract

Psychotherapy has traditionally been regarded as the purview of psychiatry rather than neurology. Yet, the doctor-patient relationship is fundamental to both specialties, and the principles that derive from psychotherapy theory and practice apply to that relationship regardless of the specialty. It is common knowledge that a large proportion of patients seen in the context of the practice of medicine have some kind of emotional disturbance. Moreover, patients with organic disease may also have significant emotional difficulties that complicate both the primary illness and its treatment. This experience inevitably has drawn attention to the need for the nonpsychiatric physician to have an understanding and proficiency in psychiatric diagnosis and psychotherapeutic principles. In this article, we consider basic psychotherapeutic principles that are useful in the everyday practice of neurologists and other nonpsychiatric physicians. These skills are important not only for practical reasons, but also because responsiveness to their emotional distress is essential to maintain empathy and caring as cornerstones of the art of medicine. With the use of clinical examples to illustrate these principles, we hope that readers can apply them to their own clinical experiences.

Author information

Author/s: Hobday, Gabrielle S (GS); Gabbard, Glen O (GO);

Affiliation: Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77036, USA. ghobdaymd(-atsign-)gmail.com

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Seminars in neurology (Semin Neurol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jul; vol 29 (issue 3) : pp 194-9

Dates: Created 2009/06/24; Completed 2009/09/01;

PMID: 19551597, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 9/1/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.