Health care is more comprehensive if provided by a team of health care professionals, including primary care physicians working with health care psychologists. This approach helps improve medical visit outcomes and patient’s adherence to interventions and reduce overall costs. Today, health care services are often too specialized, leading to higher costs for patients and an increased reliance on expensive medications rather than addressing unhealthy behavior. Medications for disorders like depression may actually be ineffective in treating the problems if not accompanied by psychotherapy. However, aligning primary care physicians with health care psychologists can improve patient health care by creating one-stop service provision, involving family or community members in supportive treatment, reducing inappropriate or unnecessary medications, and increasing patient satisfaction.
"A 50-year-old woman who has moderately severe cardiovascular disease and social phobia was seen by the health psychologist. She was also drinking quite heavily. She was very reluctant to tell her physician about the drinking out of fear of judgment and getting the lecture but has granted permission for the psychologist to communicate with her PCP. By approaching the physician during a relative down time, the psychologist was able to communicate not only the patient’s drinking and her fear, but how the physician could approach this issue within the context of the patient’s fear of judgment. The physician was, in turn, able to educate the psychologist about his specific concerns regarding her drinking. This was helpful to the psychologist to provide targeted information to the patient to help encourage her sobriety. This leads to a better outcome for the patient where her drinking and her social phobia were addressed by both providers, using up-to-date information and techniques.” by Mark E. Vogel, PhD, ABPP, Heather Kirkpatrick, PhD, ABPP, and Maria Fimiani, PsyD
The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy: What the Research Tells Us by Henny Westra, PhD
The average client receiving psychotherapy is better off than 79% of clients who do not seek treatment. By comparing the effects of psychotherapy with the effects of medication, Dr. Robert Rosenthal, Harvard University psychologist, convincingly demonstrated that the typical effects of psychotherapy often exceed the degree of effect found in biomedical breakthroughs. Simply put, psychotherapy is quite effective. - Westra
