Conference paper
PERSON-CENTRED PSYCHOPHARMACOTHERAPY: WHAT IS IT? Each patient is a unique, responsive and responsible subject
Miro Jakovljevic
; University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Department of Psychiatry, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Modern psychopharmacotherapy is currently in contention both outside and within the field of psychiatry. Conventional
psychopharmacology paradigms focusing just on a disease perspective, biological narrative and a “one fits all” treatment are often
regarded as inadequate and disjunctive. A significant proportion of psychiatric patients achieve no improvement or only partial
improvement in their symptoms, while many of them suffer adverse and even toxic effects of medications. Psychopharmacotherapy as
a sole form of treatment may carry the wrong message that patients don’t have to change their life style and don’t have to learn any
new skills, they just have to receive their medication on time because the only problem is in brain chemistry. Evidence-based
psychopharmacotherapy and person-centered narrative psychopharmacotherapy are not competitors but a complementuary duality,
as intimately connected as brain and soul. Narrative preserves individuality, distinctivenesss and therapeutic context, whereas
quantitative methods and evidence-based guidelines offer a solid foundation for what is reliably and generally correct. The purpose
of person-centered psychopharmacotherapy is to empower the patients to control their disease, to re-author their problematic life
story, to obtain full personal recovery and to regain control over their life.
Keywords
person; centered psychopharmacotherapy; creativity; personal recovery; narrative psychopharmacotherapy
Hrčak ID:
264446
URI
Publication date:
8.9.2015.
Visits: 526 *