Product Description

Currently there is controversy about the use and misuse of medications. State legislatures have even considered banning psychopharmacology for children and adolescents in favor of discipline. Also, approximately two-thirds of the psychopharmacology administered is by non-specialists, without therapy. One view is that medication is being overused. This book promotes the careful use of psychopharmacology together with family therapy. Families can then support or oppose pharmacotherapy because they have debated the facts and feelings surrounding the use of medication. In addition, psychopharmacology is seen as both useful for medical conditions such as bipolar illness, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder as well as to enhance communication, positive interpersonal attitudes, and a positive attitude toward therapy. In addition to helping families understand the complexity of therapy and the use of medication, this book will help guide therapists and families alike into the deeper, more complex, contextual issues of family organization, personality development, and spiritual issues. Previous books have emphasized pharmacology for specific illnesses such as bipolar illness with a family focused approach and, on the other hand, medications to improve communication and expressiveness. This book will integrate both approaches and illustrate that within each family there is usually one family member that demonstrates an instrumental medical model outlook and another family member that has more of an expressive-relational, humanistic outlook. Although there have been previous textbooks and books discussing different schools of family therapy, their clinical integration plus the integration of pharmacology with these schools of therapy has been lacking.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3180000 in Books
• Published on: 2000-12-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 200 pages

From the Back Cover
Currently there is controversy about the use and misuse of medications. State legislatures have even considered banning psychopharmacology for children and adolescents in favor of discipline. Also, approximately two-thirds of the psychopharmacology administered is by non-specialists, without therapy. One view is that medication is being overused. This book promotes the careful use of psychopharmacology together with family therapy. Families can then support or oppose pharmacotherapy because they have debated the facts and feelings surrounding the use of medication.

Previous books have emphasized pharmacology for specific illnesses such as bipolar illness with a family focused approach and, on the other hand, medications to improve communication and expressiveness. This book will integrate both approaches and illustrate that within each family there is usually one family member that demonstrates an instrumental medical model outlook and another family member that has more of an expressive-relational, humanistic outlook. Although there have been previous textbooks and books discussing different schools of family therapy, their clinical integration plus the integration of pharmacology with these schools of therapy has been lacking.

About the Author
Roy Resnikoff, M.D., is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. He has had a private family psychiatry practice in La Jolla, California since 1975. Dr Resnikoff conducts training workshops on the integration of family therapy and psychpharmacology, and he is also on the faculty of the Gestalt Training Institute in San Diego. He received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and completed his psychiatry residency at the University of Colorado.