Assessing and engaging suicidal adolescents in psychoanalytic psychotherapy is filled with complexity and stress, but offers a potential for lasting suicide prevention. This study provides a detailed account of the initial psychotherapy sessions with a suicidal teenager, drawing extensively on the comprehensive notes taken by the therapist. Four discussants were invited to provide their perspec...

In 1991, the National Institutes of Health consensus statement on the treatment of late-life depression ranked psychotherapy as third in a line of treatment options, with antidepressant medication first and electroconvulsive therapy second, indicating that there was insufficient evidence to recommend psychotherapy as a first-line treatment for depression in older adults [1]. Since that time, nu...

This article describes methods and concepts developed by the Mount Zion Psychotherapy Research Group for empirically evaluating the pertinence of suitability of a therapist's interventions (behaviors) to a patient's particular problems, needs, and treatment goals. Intensive studies of 2 brief psychotherapy cases are presented. In these studies, patient-initiated critical incidents (tests) were ...

Examining Chinese proverbs or common sayings as a cultural product is one of the ways to examine the cultural aspects of the mental life of the Chinese. It provides one route to discuss how to provide culture-suitable psychotherapy for the Chinese. After a brief review of Chinese psychology through the review of some proverbs, the application of proverbs for Chinese psychotherapy is discussed i...

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with dysregulation of the neuroendocrine system. In this study we examine the effects of psychotherapy in 21 PTSD patients, with and without coexisting depression, on the levels of six stress-related hormones: cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S), prolactin, thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyro...

BACKGROUND Psychodynamic psychotherapy has been used to treat depression for more than a century. However, not all patients respond equally well, and there are few reliable predictors of treatment outcome. METHODS We used resting (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ((18)FDG-PET) scans immediately before and after a structured, open trial of brief psychodynamic psychotherapy ...

This paper investigates the influence of integrative factors on psychotherapy education. The broad relevance of integrative psychotherapy to residency training and continuing mental health education is discussed. Following a review of the existing literature on the education of integrative psychotherapists, the article systematically examines the integrative and pedagogic issues to be considere...

BACKGROUND Dignity Therapy is a brief psychotherapy that can enhance a sense of legacy while addressing the emotional and existential needs of patients receiving hospice or palliative care. In Dignity Therapy, patients create a formalized "legacy" document that records their most cherished memories, their lessons learned in life, as well as their hopes and dreams for loved ones in the future. T...

OBJECTIVES This prospective observational study investigated whether self-reported psychological distress and alcohol use problems of surgical patients change between preoperative baseline assessment and postoperative 6-month follow-up examination. Patients with preoperative interest in psychotherapy were compared with patients without interest in psychotherapy. METHODS A total of 1,157 conse...