Office psychotherapy for depression in the primary care setting

Abstract

Effective medical care is founded on an understanding of what a particular illness means to a particular patient at a particular time in life. This requires a full understanding of the patient's illness dynamics, which inform primary care clinicians as to the specific psychological needs to be addressed during the course of medical treatment. This is extremely relevant when treating patients suffering from depression, either as a primary disorder or concurrent to a medical condition. Medical psychotherapy can then be implemented either as a supportive or introspective approach and sometimes supplemented with pharmacotherapy, if the patient's emotional distress is extreme. This comprehensive biopsychosocial regimen is the acceptable medical model if "one is to treat the whole patient and not merely characterize the nature of an illness and impede biological deterioration."