Monitor on Psychology - September 2011 - (Page 50)

Advocacy efforts What’s particularly alarming about the data is that psychotherapy isn’t prescribed even in situations — such as mild to moderate depression or sleep disorders — where we know that psychotherapy and medication are equally effective or effective if done in combination, says Katherine C. Nordal, PhD, executive director of APA’s Practice Directorate. “We have a society that wants a quick fix,” she says. Psychiatry’s loss is psychology’s gain Psychologists aren’t the only ones concerned about the decline in psychotherapy’s use. In a front-page story in The New York Times in March (see www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/ health/policy/06doctors.html), psychiatrists revealed frustration about the decline in psychotherapy within their own profession. As the headline noted, “talk doesn’t pay, so psychiatry turns instead to drug therapy.” that’s a travesty, APA Chief executive officer norman B. Anderson, PhD, said in a response published in the Times (see www. apa.org/news/press/response/nytimesresponse.aspx). “there is something inherently wrong with a health-care system that allows a practitioner to earn more for three 15-minute prescription-writing sessions than for a 45-minute therapy session that teaches patients lifelong coping skills and has no adverse physical side effects,” he wrote. the good news? Patients who need psychotherapy will have to turn to psychologists. In fact, Anderson notes, one of the psychiatrists interviewed in the Times article urges his patients to seek help from a psychologist when they need therapy. that’s even better news for patients, since psychologists can get to patients’ root problems instead of just relieving their symptoms, says Katherine C. Nordal, PhD, executive director of APA’s Practice Directorate. “If you’re a medical doctor, and I come to you with a pain in my gut, you want to solve the pain in my gut,” she says. “If I come to you with sleep disturbance, and there’s a pill you can give me to make me sleep better, that’s what you’re going to do. Psychiatrists tend to be much more focused on symptom relief and not so much on how to better equip patients to handle their problems now and in the future.” —R.A. CLAy To help counter that trend, APA is developing a series of treatment guidelines for the first time. Those guidelines aren’t just for use by psychologists, Nordal emphasizes. “The guidelines will allow us to present the evidence to policymakers, insurance companies and other payers who make decisions about what kind of treatment they’re going to pay for,” she says. “It will allow us to say, ‘You know what? There’s a huge evidence base for psychological interventions.’” The guidelines will also help to inform consumers about the kinds of treatments that work best for their problems, she adds. In addition, the new guidelines will help correct the bias in existing guidelines, such as those created by the American Psychiatric Association, says Steven D. Hollon, PhD, who chairs the Advisory Steering Committee that will oversee APA’s guideline development. Take the current treatment guideline for depression, for instance. It’s not a bad guideline, says Hollon, but it’s a guideline designed for practicing psychiatrists and so emphasizes medication. “It’s like one of those maps of the United States done by New Yorkers: New York dominates three-quarters of the page, and the rest of the states are kind of off on the edge,” he says. “The guideline has lots of coverage of pharmacological interventions, which are generally quite effective and quite safe. It has much briefer descriptions of psychotherapeutic approaches, which are generally comparably effective, are even safer and often have long-term enduring effects.” While the topics to be covered in the treatment guidelines are still undecided, Hollon predicts APA will produce one guideline per year. Another effort that may soon bear fruit is a resolution highlighting psychotherapy’s effectiveness that APA President Melba J.T. Vasquez, PhD, introduced at APA’s Council of Representatives meeting in February 2010. The resolution, which Vasquez and others are revising based on feedback from colleagues, summarizes studies and metaanalyses of psychotherapy with various groups, treatment types and other factors. (See sidebar for examples of studies that may be included in the resolution.) Vasquez hopes the council will approve it in 2012. APA staff and individual psychologists can then use the document to educate insurance companies, managed-care organizations and anyone else who makes policy decisions about psychotherapy, she says. Meanwhile, APA’s Mind/Body Health initiative continues to work to educate the public and promote the value of psychotherapy. Local and national outreach activities include APA’s online Help Center, its annual Stress in America survey and a partnership with the YMCA of the USA. APA’s Div. 29 is also busy advocating for psychotherapy, says Past President Jeffrey J. Magnavita, PhD. To help build the evidence base and draw attention to the area, the division’s new Norine Johnson Psychotherapy Research Grant, for example, will award $20,000 to a psychologist conducting research on psychotherapy effectiveness. The first grant will be awarded this year. Monitor on psychology • septeMber 2011 50 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/health/policy/06doctors.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/health/policy/06doctors.html http://www.apa.org/news/press/response/nytimes-response.aspx http://www.apa.org/news/press/response/nytimes-response.aspx http://www.apa.org/news/press/response/nytimes-response.aspx

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - September 2011

Monitor on Psychology - September 2011
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
From the CEO
Supreme Court hears psychologists on prison and video game cases
Antipsychotics are overprescribed in nursing homes
New MCAT likely to recognize the mind-body connection
A $2 million boost for military and families
In Brief
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATE
On Your Behalf
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
TIME CAPSULE
QUESTIONNAIRE
Speaking of Education
SCIENCE WATCH
An uncertain future for American workers
Advocating for psychotherapy
PRACTICE PROFILE
ETHICALLY SPEAKING
Seared in our memories
Helping kids cope in an uncertain world
APA and Nickelodeon team up
Muslims in America, post 9/11
Bin Laden’s death
‘They expect us to be there’
Answering the call of public policy
Candidates answer final questions
APA News
Division Spotlight
New leaders
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION
Disaster relief training
Honoring teaching excellence
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - September 2011