Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy: A Collaborative Approach serves as a roadmap for the growing numbers of health professionals who are teaming up to provide psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy to patients. The complicated issues involved in medication backup are addressed in a comprehensive, practical manner.

Preface. Positive aspects of collaborative treatment. Negative aspects of collaborative treatment. Mental health providers: role definitions and collaborative practice issues. Divided treatment: legal implications and risks. Ethical issues in collaborative or divided treatment. The psychologically informed psychopharmacologist. Medication backup: the nonphysician perspective. Collaborative treatment for patients with personality disorders. Residency training issues in collaborative treatment. Collaborative treatment in managed care. Primary care physicians and mental health professionals: models for collaboration. Guidelines to maximize the process of collaborative treatment. Index.

For years, psychiatrists have provided "medication backup" for patients who are in therapy with a non-physician therapist. During the past decade, this practice, also known as collaborative treatment, has expanded as a result of important breakthroughs in clinical psychopharmacology and ongoing pressure to reduce the costs of mental health care. Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy: A Collaborative Approach serves as a roadmap for the growing numbers of health professionals who are teaming up to provide psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy to patients. The complicated issues involved in medication backup are addressed in a comprehensive, practical manner. Readers will learn both the beneficial aspects of collaborative treatment and the common pitfalls to avoid. This practical resource provides useful information about the education and training backgrounds of the various mental health professionals participating in these treatments arrangements and offers guidelines for what each clinician can reasonably expect from the other. Some of the most difficult dilemmas faced by physicians providing medication backup are legal and ethical. The authors address these complicated issues, which include questions such as the following: Who is ultimately responsible for patient treatment? How will treatment liability be shared between collaborating practitioners? How can risk be managed in medication backup arrangements? Insight is provided into the inner workings of medication backup arrangements, which frequently involve complex relationship dynamics between and among physician, therapist, and patient. An understanding of these issues is crucial the successful collaborative treatment. This helpful guide also examines residency training issues and presents models for successful collaborative treatment that can be used by the busy clinician in formulating treatment plans. Also addressed are the unique problems encountered by psychiatrists who provide medication backup in managed care environments. Throughout the book, case vignettes are extensively used to illustrate the principles presented. This well-referenced volume is the first of its kind to provide practical guidelines for maximizing the process of collaborative treatment for all involved professionals—with the ultimate goal of improving the care of all patients.