Mente e cervello. Equivoci epistemologici e clinici a proposito della cosiddetta “integrazione” tra farmaci e psicoterapia

Abstract

Mind and Brain: Epistemological and Clinical Misunderstandings on the so-called “Integration” of Medication with Psychotherapy - Psychoanalysts or psychodynamic therapists who consider the so-called “integration” or “combination” of psychotherapy and medication to be problematic reveal a stereotyped theory of technique that may lead to errors even in therapies without drugs. In fact, the happenings within the therapeutic situation are not interpreted but taken at face value: drugs are seen as “something else”, separated from the so-called "psychological” intervention (i.e., only the latter should be interpreted or understood). This approach seems to be anti-psychoanalytic, being based on a sort of labeling theory. It is not clear why medication should not belong to the same conceptual category as any other intervention or fact within the psychotherapeutic situation. Pharmacological interventions are always associated or combined with non-pharmacological interventions, so that the true alternative is not between psychotherapy and medication, but between “psychological interventions” and “psychological interventions associated with medication believed to be psychoactive”.

Keywords

• Integration of Medication with Psychotherapy
• Combined Treatment
• Mind-Body Problem
• Theory of Psychotherapeutic Technique
• Epistemology