DO OUR MEDICAL COLLEAGUES KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT FROM PSYCHOTHERAPY?
Abstract
1. That many nonpsychiatric physicians are confused about the methods, goals, and effectiveness of psychotherapy is in large part a reflection of the muddled state of psychiatrists themselves about the nature and status of their specialty.
2. The most important sources of misunderstanding about what psychotherapy is and is not are those problems bearing on the scientific nature of psychotherapy: psychodynamics, techniques of psychotherapy and their effectiveness, and goals of psychotherapy.
3. The training of the modern physician leads him to believe that a "science of mind" exists which in practice can be understood and judged in the same way as can the other branches of medicine.
4. This situation—the scientific beliefs and expectations of the physician plus the difficulty of establishing psychotherapy on traditional scientific grounds—results in confusion among our medical colleagues and even among ourselves.
5. A step in the right direction toward eliminating this condition will be for us as psychiatrists to be as rigorous as possible in making scientific judgments about the methods and goals of our specialty.
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