Medicating patients in psychoanalytic therapy: implications for introjection, transference, and countertransference.

Dominick J Riccio

International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, Inc., 1036 Park Ave., New York, NY 10028, USA.

American journal of psychoanalysis 2011 Dec

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If a patient comes for psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, why medicate him with psychotropic drugs? The answers to this question are explored and addressed from several points of view. The central hypothesis of this paper suggests that most of the reasons for medicating patients have to do with therapist's unresolved countertransference issues. Furthermore, medicating a patient may have deleterious effects on his introjected sense of self, and impacts the transference relationship in a significant way. The issues surrounding medication as adjunctive therapy are elucidated and clarified in terms of rationale, efficacy, and the impact on the psychotherapeutic relationship. Psychoanalytic solutions are offered and discussed.

Citation

Dominick J Riccio. Medicating patients in psychoanalytic therapy: implications for introjection, transference, and countertransference. American journal of psychoanalysis. 2011 Dec;71(4):338-51