Introduction Psychotherapy: An Adjunct to Medical Treatment

Abstract

To be a healthy, functioning individual requires an integration of the physical, psychological, and social well-being. Although this may seem like common sense, it is only in recent years that mental health professionals have been playing a more active role in the health care of the physically ill. These specialists include psychologists, psychiatrists, rehabilitation counselors, psychiatric social workers and psychiatric nurses (Fisher, 1986). Physicians and nurses on medical wards are also becoming more aware of, and involved in, the psychological care of their patients. Courses in health psychology are gradually becoming part of their medical training, as the interaction of the patient’s emotional and physical makeup is recognized as playing an important role in recovery, often determining whether or not a person comes for treatment, or stays in treatment and follows prescriptions.