A systematic approach to brief psychological intervention in the primary care setting

A systematic approach to psychological intervention that can be used by the primary care physician is presented. The approach specifies the sequence the physician takes when providing therapy: (1) identify the context of the patient's complaint(s), (2) assess the patient's current status, (3) develop a therapeutic plan, and (4) implement a therapy approach. These steps are based on four current status categories-functional, ambiguous, crisis, and dysfunctional-that describe the patient's life situation. Each category serves as a gateway for planning and for carrying out therapy. Four types of psychological intervention-short-term therapy, structured assessment, crisis intervention, and referral-are described and methods for implementing each activity are given. The advantages of the schema and a brief critique are presented.