Psychotherapy for the Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurse

Abstract

This book strives to assist the beginning therapist in accurate assessment through a comprehensive psychodynamic understanding of the client. Understanding development and psychodynamic issues is imperative in order to make sense of what is happening for the client in the treatment. The book integrates the best evidence-based approaches into a relationship-based framework for advanced practice psychiatric nurse (APPN) psychotherapy practice. Using a holistic paradigm, elements of psychotherapy described include caring, connection, narrative, and anxiety management. Attention is then turned to the development of a framework for practice, beginning with a discussion of mental health and illness viewed through a cultural lens. The book considers the neurophysiological basis for psychotherapy with the adaptive information processing (AIP) model as the overall framework for practice. A new age of psychotherapy is dawning with the ability to document differential responses to therapy and medication through positron emission tomography (PET), electroencephalography (EEG), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Of all the major content regions of the psychiatric history, the most important is the history of the present illness (HPI). The mental status examination (MSE) has become a standard component of the initial clinical assessment. The assessment of ego functioning from the perspective of ego strength, as opposed to ego deficit, is a valuable skill for nurse psychotherapists. Genograms play an important role in the assessment process, as do the screening tools, diagnosis, and case formulation in the therapeutic process.