Biological v. psychosocial treatments: a myth about pharmacotherapy v. psychotherapy
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Published on: August 4, 2022
Aaron Prosser1, Bartosz Helfer2, Stefan Leucht2
1Aaron Prosser, MSc, Complex Mental Illness Program (Forensic Division), Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada; Bartosz Helfer, MSc, King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, London, UK; Stefan Leucht, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technical University Munich, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Munich, Germany aaron.prosser@camh.ca.
Abstract:
Despite evidence for their comparable efficacy, psychotherapy faces a dramatic decline relative to pharmacotherapy in psychiatry. A deep ideological reason for this decline centres on the belief that psychotherapy is a psychosocial treatment whereas pharmacotherapy is a biological treatment. Modern cognitive neuroscience demonstrates that this distinction is a myth.
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