The benefits of psychotherapeutic and psychiatric care

What are the aspects of psychiatric intervention that reinforce psychotherapeutic support?

It is often assumed that psychotherapy and psychiatric-type treatments are two competing ways of working, competing with each other in improving people's well-being and mental health.

However, the truth is that the idea that these two forms of intervention with patients are mutually exclusive does not make sense. It is now known that combining the two is very helpful in treating certain disorders.

In this article we will look at how it benefits patients to have both psychotherapy and psychotherapy and psychiatric support, and why in some cases it is helpful to have both.and why in some cases it is the most advisable option.

Differences between the work of psychologists and psychiatrists

First of all, let us see what are the aspects in which psychiatric and psychotherapeutic intervention differ.

Psychotherapy is a concept that applies to the need to provide solutions to a wide variety of problems related to behavior, thinking, and problems related to behavior, thinking and emotions..

This implies that it is not limited to offering services to people who have developed a psychological disorder; for example, there are people who come to psychological therapy to stop having low self-esteem, or to improve their communication or social skills, or even to better manage couple's arguments.

Moreover, psychotherapy is fundamentally a learning process: patients learn both theoretical aspects of what is wrong with them and how they can solve it, and practical aspects of how to overcome that problem by adopting new habits and styles of thinking.

On the other hand, psychiatry offers resources from the world of medicine, since, in the end, psychiatrists are not the only ones who can help.psychiatrists are, after all, physicians who specialize in mental health. Therefore, they work in cases where there is (or may be) a disorder, so they see people whose quality of life is being significantly affected on a regular basis.

It is very common that the use of psychotropic drugs is proposed, although always strictly following their instructions, since these products may have side effects to be taken into account.

Benefits of psychiatric and psychotherapeutic support

These are the main advantages of having help through both combined psychotherapeutic and psychiatric avenues.

1. Psychiatric support helps meet the goals of psychotherapy.

Sometimes the symptoms of the disorder affecting the patient are so intense that they make it difficult for him/her to reach the objectives set in psychotherapy, or even prevent him/her from concentrating and understanding what he/she has to do.

In these cases, the use of drugs or other tools of psychiatry may allow him/her to to reach a point where the discomfort is sufficiently reduced to be able to engage in the tasks associated with psychological therapy.and, from there, continue to improve.

2. Psychiatric intervention is very helpful in crisis.

In cases of acute distress, where the priority is to bring the distress down as soon as possible, psychiatric intervention may offer somewhat faster ways of acting than psychotherapy. And once this phase has passed, having a psychiatric professional on hand makes it possible to detect in time the signs that another crisis of this type could arise..

3. The combined use of both interventions intensifies their effects.

In many cases with severe psychiatric or psychological disorders, the effects of psychotherapy and psychiatric intervention are mutually reinforcing in terms of their effects. mutually reinforce each other in terms of the consistency of patient improvement.. They feel better, and more consistently.

4. Psychological support helps to engage in both therapies.

Finally, psychotherapy predisposes patients to become more committed to their process of improvement and recovery of wellbeing, so that its effects extend beyond the motivation to continue going to the psychologist (as long as necessary) and (as long as necessary) and also encompasses engagement with the psychiatric pathway.

Are you looking for professional help from psychotherapy and psychiatry?

If you live in the area of Madrid and you are interested in having professional support in which there is the possibility of having psychotherapeutic and psychiatric help, we invite you to contact us, the professionals at Avance Psychologists.

For more than two decades, our center has offered comprehensive mental health assistance, and today we have a large team of therapists, including psychiatry and psychological therapy services.

Puedes encontrarnos en el centro de Madrid en la Calle Alcalá nº165, o contactar con nosotros de manera online. Nuestros datos de contacto están disponibles en esta página.

Referencias bibliograficas:

• American Psychiatric Association (1993). Practice guideline for major depressive disorder in adults. American Journal of Psychiatry 150(suppl 4): 1 - 26.
• Huhn, M.; Tardy, M.; Spineli, L.M. (2014). Efficacy of Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy for Adult Psychiatric Disorders A Systematic Overview of Meta-analyses. JAMA Psychiatry, 71(6): pp. 706 - 715.
• Rounsaville, B.J.; Klerman, G.L.; Weissman, M.M. (1981). Do psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for depression conflict? Empirical evidence from a clinical trial. Archives of General Psychiatry 38: pp. 24 - 29.