Posted by yxibow on March 27, 2006, at 18:43:06
In reply to Re: psychotherapy CAN alter brain chemistry!, posted by linkadge on March 27, 2006, at 11:38:16
> There have been a number of studies showing the ways that psychotherapy can alter the way that the brain works. Good psychotherapy is really about learning nondrug ways to manage your illness.
Psychotherapy, CBT, etc all have been shown in a variety of ways including PET/SPECT exams to alter brain chemistry. I take a lions share of medication for my somatiform / OC spectrum illness but I also have a valueable relationship with a psychotherapist that has contributed a way to cope, handle, and understand the changing ways that it has gone. I am fortunate to have parents to support me in doing so, I dont think I could have gotten this far (and there is still more to go, it is partially at bay but not gone) without someone to depend on for guidance, who also is a psychopharmacologist/psychiatrist.
I also recognize that people cannot always afford it, and insurance covers little, and there are sometimes for privacy reasons that one may not want insurance to cover it.
However as they say, and has been pointed out, your miles may vary. A very nonarticulate (no fault of their own) or deeply psychotic patient or other examples one can think of without being pejorative, may not respond to it for obvious reasons. There, medication alone if it is functional, will have to serve.
Tidings
- J
poster:yxibow
thread:623859
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060322/msgs/625260.html