Support and psychotherapy

In recent years the psychiatric and psychoanalytical literature has expressed increasing interest in supportive therapy, which has long been considered rather disparagingly as a "lesser form" of psychotherapy. At the same time there has been much reflection on the significance and role of support in various therapeutic settings, outside the formal psychotherapeutic context. A review of updated literature shows, on the one hand, a general appreciation of the idea of support, as an acknowledged component of any therapeutic action. On the other, in the area of psychoanalytic-oriented therapies, there is still debate on the status of supportive psychotherapy, and particularly on the relations between supportive and explorative variants. The eclecticism of supportive therapy and the lack of consensus on its theoretical bases are reviewed in an attempt to develop theoretical/clinical models as the foundation for supportive measures. These potential models would greatly facilitate the transmission and technical application of supportive measures in clinical work. Further research is needed to define the theoretical underpinnings of supportive therapy, establish its origins, the pattern it should take in different therapeutic settings, its potential and limits.