Primer of Supportive Psychotherapy

For many patients, supportive therapy is the treatment of choice, and for many others, the use of medications or of more expressive techniques optimally occurs in the context of a supportive relationship. Yet, there is a paucity of literature expressly devoted to the techniques and aims of supportive psychotherapy. Residents, psychology interns, clinical social work trainees, and other beginning therapists are routinely directed to provide supportive therapy for their patients without detailed instruction. And their supervisors, despite having extensive tacit knowledge of how to proceed, are often unable to provide conceptually clear guidelines. In A Primer of Supportive PsychotherapyHenry Pinsker remedies this situation by focusing directly on the rationale for, and techniques of, supportive psychotherapy. He explores this modality as a form of dyadic intervention quite distinct from expressive psychotherapies. Unlike the latter, it uses direct measures to ameliorate symptoms and to restore, maintain, or increase self-esteem, ego functioning, and adaptive skills. Pinsker also shows how, to varying extents, supportive psychotherapy makes use of patterns of relationships and behavior, past and present. Pinsker's writing is wise, human, and direct. The realities, ironies, conundrums, and opportunities of the therapeutic encounter are vividly portrayed in scores of illustrative dialogues drawn from actual treatments. Among the topics covered are how to provide reassurance in a realistic way; how to handle requests for advice; the role of praise and reinforcement; the appropriate use of reframing techniques and of modeling; negotiating patients' concerns about medication and other collateral forms of treatment; maintaining the supportive relationship in the absence of therapeutic progress; dealing with ambiguous ethical situations; working supportively with disorganized and thought-disordered patients; and developing strategies to avoid actions that might increase the patient's anxiety or lower self-esteem. Destined to become the classic introductory work in the field, A Primer of Supportive Psychotherapy will be valued by students and trainees in all mental health disciplines--and by their teachers--for its wealth of practical guidelines and explicit instruction on how to develop, maintain, and make optimal therapeutic use of a supportive relationship. Psychopharmacologists, counselors, nurse practitioners, and primary care physicians are among the helping professionals who will likewise benefit from Pinsker's clear presentation of the principles of supportive work. Beyond its didactic value, this text will be an indispensable conceptual touchstone for any clinician interested in understanding more clearly the differences among various interventional modalities as a preliminary step in optimal treatment planning.Pinsker, Henry is the author of 'Primer of Supportive Psychotherapy' with ISBN 9780881633924 and ISBN 0881633925.