ABSTRACT
This book strives to provide to the reader a compendium of information regarding specific psychiatric disorders and their amenability to be treated with integrated psychotherapy and psychopharmacology approaches. Evidence-based information will be provided, and in its absence, theoretical approaches and explanations will be given to explain why integration and simultaneous use of these two treatment modalities should make both biological and psychological sense to the practitioner and the patient. This introductory chapter will first review some typical integrative studies and their outcomes, where a specific psychotherapy technique and/or a specific psychopharmacological intervention were provided to patients with a defined psychiatric disorder. Clinical outcomes will be discussed briefly to set a tone for the following, psychiatric-disorder specific, chapters in this book where more in-depth analyses will be forthcoming. More important than reviewing initial hallmark outcomes, this chapter will briefly discuss endophenotypic neuroimaging findings regarding treatment integration and will finally attempt to theoretically explain why combining medications and psychotherapy makes sense from a neuroscience, or biological, perspective.
