ABSTRACT
This chapter focusses on ‘Treating Symptoms and Disorders’. The chapter starts with an anonymised clinical case history of severe depression and its treatment. The chapter outlines the theory of the bio-psycho-social approach to care, and the evidence-bases for key treatments in psychiatry and their benefits: e.g., cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT), interpersonal psychotherapy, certain mindfulness-based approaches, antidepressants, electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), antipsychotics, and some newer approaches (e.g., ketamine or psilocybin combined with psychotherapy). These summaries are based on systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and guidelines (where available). The overall approach is to describe the benefits of the main treatments, point to evidence to support their use, and note the need to balance adverse effects against therapeutic value in each individual case. Certain controversial topics require and receive particular attention; e.g., suicide and antidepressants, metabolic side-effects of antipsychotics, and ECT.
