The Therapist's Guide to Psychopharmacology: Working with Patients, Families, and Physicians to Optimize Care

Product Description
Now in a revised and updated third edition, this noted practitioner guide and text incorporates the latest knowledge about psychopharmacology and collaborative care. Therapists and counselors learn when and how to make medication referrals and how to address patients' questions about drug benefits, side effects, safety, and more. Organized around frequently encountered mental health disorders, the book explains how medications work (including what they can and cannot accomplish). Strategies for collaborating successfully with patients, their family members, and prescribers are discussed in detail. Written for optimal practical utility, the text features case examples, sample referral letters, checklists, and a glossary.
New to This Edition
*Chapter on the therapeutic relationship.
*New separate chapter on bipolar disorder.
*Expanded discussions of distinguishing psychiatric illness from normal distress, optimizing collaboration with psychiatrists, how medications work in the brain, treatment of chronic pain, and more.
*Additional case vignettes and psychopharmacology principles.
Review
​"All psychotherapists practicing today, whether independently or in community settings, must be informed about psychopharmacology. This superb book covers how to talk to patients and their families about medication and collaborate with prescribers. The third edition is up to date and exceptionally well written, and covers the diagnostic ground from anxiety and depression to psychosis and cognitive disorders. I cannot think of a book that better achieves its purpose of educating non-MD mental health practitioners and graduate students to be as helpful as possible to their patients who are taking, or may need, psychoactive medication."--Stanley B. Messer, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and former Dean, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
"The third edition of this guide gives psychotherapists both a systemic conceptual framework and the latest science about psychotropic medications and how they work. The distinguished trio of Patterson, Griffith, and Edwards emphasize the essential need for collaboration between therapists and prescribing clinicians. This book provides everything you need to know about medications' effects on the brain and behavior when used in conjunction with behavioral interventions for common psychiatric disorders."--Susan H. McDaniel, PhD, ABPP, Dr. Laurie Sands Distinguished Professor of Families and Health, University of Rochester Medical Center
“This book is a gem. It is the best book that I’ve seen that provides beginning and seasoned nonmedical clinicians with essential information about psychopharmacology with a spectrum of mental health conditions. What sets this book apart is the authors' use of a systems and collaborative care framework that includes patients and key family members as valuable resources. Written in an exceptionally practical and accessible style with wonderful case illustrations, the book is a superb reference for clinicians working in integrated healthcare and private practice settings. I highly recommend this volume as an excellent basic teaching text for graduate students across mental health disciplines."--John S. Rolland, MD, MPH, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
"This book is extremely well suited to those who have no prior knowledge of psychopharmacology or wish to build on their existing knowledge. The text is a professor's dream--is clearly laid out, builds sequentially on previous learning, and incorporates the latest developments in the field. This is one of those rare publications that students in the helping professions should keep on their shelves long after graduation. I have relied on this book over the years in a variety of academic and clinical settings, and remain impressed by its clarity, pr