The Mental Health Foundation http://www.mentalhealthexcellence.org/ continues to focus on research and its implication for practice, in order to advance the Recovery Model in psychiatric care.
…In this issue, Totura and colleagues report on a meta-analysis of studies that evaluated the impact of the therapeutic relationship on the outcome of pharmacologic treatment. Noting that the therapeutic alliance has a powerful effect on outcome in psychotherapy, they wondered whether this would also be observed when pharmacotherapy was a dominant component of treatment. They identified eight studies that met their inclusion criteria. A positive therapeutic alliance had a modest effect on outcome. …
…Other interesting questions are raised by this study. The impact of the therapeutic alliance might challenge our notions of drug specificity. Psychiatric drugs have long been classified according to the putative disease targets—antipsychotics, antidepressants, and so on. But in recent years, there have been ever-broadening indications for each of the classes of psychiatric drugs. As the authors note, the effect of the therapeutic relationship on outcomes is widely acknowledged in the context of psychotherapy, but this research has led to questions about the impact of the specificity of any given psychotherapeutic modality. Further research in this area might further erode our notions that the specific pharmacologic actions of psychiatric drugs have as much import as currently presumed. …
Please see the article that considers the research shared in Psychiatric Services here: http://www.mentalhealthexcelle...-policy/?omhide=true