Handbook of Medical Psychotherapy: Cost-Effective Strategies in Mental Health

Handbook of Medical Psychotherapy: Cost-Effective Strategies in Mental Health

Kenneth N. Anchor

Toronto ON: Hogrefe and Huber Publishers, pp. 402, 1991

This book claims to present “a wide range of cost-effective medical psychotherapy perspectives and methods.” The editor, Kenneth Anchor, is a proponent of interdisciplinary cooperation among mental health fields which is evident in his selection of contributors whose backgrounds include clinical psychology, medicine, law and economics. Dr. Anchor suggests that the richness and diversity of approaches presented in these papers contribute to the current fund of knowledge of medical psychotherapy. The title of the book suggests that a comprehensive overview of medical psychotherapy with particular reference to issues of cost-effectiveness is presented.

Medical psychotherapy is defined as “a professional interdisciplinary endeavour” which serves as a vehicle for the management of patients with psychiatric, behavioural and/or medical difficulties with a psychological basis. Contributions are made from an exhaustive list of disciplines ranging from anthropology to vocational rehabilitation counselling. However, it remains unclear what distinguishes a medical psychotherapist from therapists in general.

The style and focus of the papers in this volume vary considerably. Some authors write opinions, some review and organize known facts and others describe the results of recent studies. There is an excellent and comprehensive review of neurology for psychotherapists. Several papers focus on program planning and the organization of mental health care delivery systems. Several papers describe refreshing approaches to psychotherapy and some include clinical vignettes. The disorders which are covered include panic disorder, chronic pain, post traumatic stress disorder and psychosomatic disorders. There seems to be a slight bias in favour of cognitive and behavioural therapy.

Dr. Anchor’s “Introduction to Medical Psychotherapy” clearly documents the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and the need to offer proven, cost-effective, quality services. The remainder of the volume is eclectic and each paper presents novel, interesting or unusual ideas. However, the book suffers from a lack of organization as well as a lack of consistency in the style, perspective, rigour and focus of the individual papers. Cost-effectiveness is an issue that is of growing importance in mental health care. However, no case is made for the inclusion of papers on, for example, behavioural neurology or psychological autopsy in this volume which is subtitled “Cost-Effective Strategies in Mental Health”.

While any psychotherapist might refer to any one or two of the papers included in this book, it is difficult to envision any professional finding the majority of these papers applicable to his or her clinical practice.