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Contraindications and Dangers of Psychotherapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Sidney Crown
Sidney Crown*
Affiliation:
The London Hospital, Whitechapel, London E1 1BB
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Summary

Psychotherapy, like any other effective treatment in medicine, may lead to negative effects either in the patient or those around him. The source of these unwanted effects may be in the patient's or the therapist's personality, in the patient-therapist interaction, in faulty therapy technique or in the patient's unresolvable social situation. The possibility of negative effects should be anticipated during the descriptive and psychodynamic assessment of the patient and before establishing the therapeutic contract. The technique of a trial of psychotherapy should be more frequently used than it is in cases where the therapist is in doubt. If negative effects do develop, these should be minimized by decreasing the frequency of psychotherapy sessions and depth of exploration. This may be done by allowing greater therapist “transparency”, by making fewer psychodynamic interpretations and by altering the focus of therapy from problems of early development to problems of current living.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 143 , Issue 5 , November 1983 , pp. 436 - 441
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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