THE 15-MINUTE HOUR: BRIEF THERAPY IN A MILITARY SETTING
HARVEY H. BARTEN M.D.1
1 Chief, Psychiatry, at the 36th Tactical Hospital, Bitburg Air Force Base, APO 132, New York, N. Y.
The usefulness of very brief psychiatric appointments in treating many different kinds of patients is reported. It is suggested that the 15-minute interview is entirely sufficient for many patients who are relatively poor candidates for exploratory psychotherapy. Moreover, it is also an acceptable though limited alternative for some of the patients who ideally would receive more lengthy treatment. A few mornings of 15-minute appointments enable the psychiatrist to expand his practice considerably, while still preserving the great majority of his time for other, more exhaustive psychotherapeutic techniques.
