ABSTRACT
Reductionism is often viewed as an arcane subject. When, however, I proposed it as a possible theme for the Annual Meeting of The Jean Piaget Society, I did so for completely practical reasons. Over the now many years that I have practiced psychiatry, it has become more and more the case that patients come to me after having seen a variety of therapists, usually including several psychiatrists, and after having been treated with a variety of psychotropic medications. In general, they are disaffected with mental health professionals, discouraged about undertaking further therapy, and fairly desperate about how their lives are going. Complicating matters, their insurance companies are increasingly unwilling to pay for therapy extending beyond infrequent 15-minute visits and a bottle of pills.1 Having heard that my fees are such that they can pay from their own pockets and that I am generous with my time, they call me as a last resort.
