Clinical Manual of Supportive Psychotherapy

The authors have undertaken a thorough review of the available literature to present updated and new chapters, case vignettes, tables, and resources that reflect best practices. The book includes an introduction to the principles and techniques of supportive psychotherapy, as well a description of its application to specific mental disorders.

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Updated for the first time since 1993—and still the only comprehensive clinical guide to supportive psychotherapy—this new edition of Clinical Manual of Supportive Psychotherapy features updated and new chapters, vignettes, tables, and resources that reflect current best practices.


Where once it was reserved for use with severely impaired patients, supportive therapy has come to be recognized as the treatment of choice for many patients, and supportive techniques underpin a great many other psychotherapies.


As a result, the academic literature, both on specific populations and on technical issues, has mushroomed. In this manual, the authors—all of them practicing mental health clinicians—distill the most relevant information that nonpsychiatric physicians, psychiatric residents, and experienced psychiatrists and psychotherapists need to fully understand this specific modality.


The volume introduces, in Part I, readers to the history and evolution of the use of supportive therapy, examining both its principles and its techniques. It then applies, in Part II, the approach to a range of disorders, including schizophrenia and hallucinations, mood disorders, personality disorders, and—new to this edition—anxiety and co-occurring disorders.


Part III covers interactions and special settings, discussing applying supportive techniques with medically ill patients and older patients, including tackling issues such as social and financial barriers to seeking treatment in the case of the latter. Also included in this part are new chapters on interactions and special settings, including practicing in detention and correctional centers and the special needs of therapists in public institutions, and updated chapters on community and family involvement and medication adherence and therapy interactions. A discussion of ethics—augmented with guidance on cultural and religious sensitivity—completes this most comprehensive of guides.