Integrating Psychotherapy and Psychopharmacology for Treatment of Mood, Psychotic, Anxiety Disorders and Insomnia

This intermediate-level course focuses on the benefits, limitations, and challenges of integrating psychotherapy with psychopharmacological treatment for depression, bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, anxiety disorders, and insomnia. For some conditions (e.g., bipolar disorder, schizophrenia), pharmacologic interventions are generally considered to be the primary mode of treatment, with psychotherapy providing added benefit. For other conditions, (e.g., anxiety disorders), psychotherapy is generally considered to be the more effective approach, with medication at times enhancing or hindering the therapeutic work. And for some conditions (e.g., major depression, insomnia), patient preference and symptom severity can influence decision making for optimal care.

This course contains five chapters from the Routledge book, Integrating Psychotherapy and Psychopharmacology: A Handbook for Clinicians. The first chapter provides an overview of the use of antidepressant medications and then addresses how antidepressant medications can be combined with cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and psychodynamic psychotherapies. The second chapter on bipolar disorder highlights psychopharmacology as the cornerstone of treatment and then provides evidence for combined biological and psychological treatments. The third chapter on treating psychotic disorders reviews pharmacological treatments, explains the importance of cognitive remediation, and concludes with promising new areas of research in the combination of pharmacotherapy and cognitive remediation.

The fourth and fifth chapters focus on treating anxiety disorders and insomnia respectively. The benefits of psychological treatments, as well as limitations of pharmacologic treatments, are discussed. The literature addressing generalized anxiety disorder, specific phobia, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and panic disorder with and without agoraphobia, are reviewed independently. Finally, the importance of a thorough evaluation of insomnia, including the etiology of the sleep difficulties and management of comorbid conditions, is highlighted. Pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic approaches are reviewed, with consideration of the patient’s specific needs in determining the optimal treatment approach.