Publication date:
01 March 2003Length of book:
271 pagesPublisher
Jason Aronson, Inc.ISBN-13: 9780765703309
Depressive illness often becomes chronic or recurrent, and patients may recover only partially. Despite all the new and effective drugs, at least 25 to 35 percent of patients with clear-cut mood disorders do not respond in a satisfactory way even though there can be some relief of symptoms. These chronically ill patients can be identified by careful examination and are characterized by what Badal calls a “predicament.” The predicament is caused by a combination of two factors: an intolerably painful and troublesome relationship with a significant other, and a personality deficit that prevents the patient from solving that relationship problem in an acceptable way. When patients do not respond to treatment and their cases become chronic, the doctor-patient relationship must become a long-term therapeutic alliance. The personality problems may require intensive psychodynamic treatment. Combined treatment—i.e., medication, psychosocial intervention, psychotherapy, and rehabilitation—is commonly required for these patients.
The appropriate use of medication often makes it possible to conduct a successful psychotherapy. In identifying the problems causing the basic predicament of these chronic patients and successfully bringing them back into the mainstream, psychotherapists should have access to enough details and general principles of pharmacotherapy to evaluate the progress and the effects of the medication, and allow them to communicate intelligently with the person prescribing.
Badal addresses five areas of treatment with these cases: The doctor-patient relationship, pharmacological treatment, psychosocial interventions, psychotherapeutic programs, and rehabilitation. He formulates an approach to recognition and treatment of all the various types of these hard-to-treat chronic and refractory mood disorders.
A Jason Aronson Book
The appropriate use of medication often makes it possible to conduct a successful psychotherapy. In identifying the problems causing the basic predicament of these chronic patients and successfully bringing them back into the mainstream, psychotherapists should have access to enough details and general principles of pharmacotherapy to evaluate the progress and the effects of the medication, and allow them to communicate intelligently with the person prescribing.
Badal addresses five areas of treatment with these cases: The doctor-patient relationship, pharmacological treatment, psychosocial interventions, psychotherapeutic programs, and rehabilitation. He formulates an approach to recognition and treatment of all the various types of these hard-to-treat chronic and refractory mood disorders.
A Jason Aronson Book
Depression was once considered an intermittent condition in which the vast majority of patients responded relatively quickly and completely, and which, untreated, was associated with a high rate of spontaneous and complete recovery. Over the past 20 years, systematic research observations of people suffering from depression in naturalistic settings and the results of controlled clinical trials have led to the realization that depression is most often a chronic unremitting condition that all too frequently only partially responds to treatment, even in the face of the impressive array of new and effective medications available today. Treating Chronic Depression is a practical, comprehensive, and clinically focused review of the conceptualization and treatment of chronic depression. Badal incorporates firsthand clinical observations and case vignettes into a thorough review of the published literature on chronic depression. His keen insights on the important factors contributing to chronicity reflect several decades of clinical experience and an impressive understanding of both the psychological and neurobiological factors underlying depression. This book is a must-read for clinicians interested in the treatment of depression.