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In the US, 60% of children report exposure to violence, abuse or other trauma in the past year. Traumatized children like Karina can present to treatment with a range of symptoms, including anxiety, irritability, disruptive behaviors, mood dysregulation, and developmental regression.

EMDR stands for “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.” Created by psychologist Francine Shapiro in 1989, EMDR was first used for posttraumatic stress symptoms associated with military combat and sexual assault, and the treatment has a strong base of support.

TF-CBT has strong evidence of improving a wide variety of problems, including PTSD, depression, anxiety and fear, behavior
problems, and trauma-related shame, as well as improving parental functioning.

If you treat patients with bipolar disorder, then you have reached what I call the moment of truth. Your patient has been doing so well, she’s not even sure she still has a psychiatric problem. This is one of the many opportunities for psychotherapy in bipolar disorder—in this case, helping your patient to come to terms with her illness.

Research has generally found that both antidepressants and psychotherapy offer similar efficacy in the short-term, but that after treatment discontinuation, results are better with psychotherapy.

I examined results of multiple meta-analyses published in top tier, peer reviewed journals. The findings were clear and consistent: effect sizes for psychodynamic psychotherapy are at least as large as those reported for other therapies that are promoted as “empirically supported” or “evidence based.” Also, the benefits of psychodynamic therapy are lasting. Patients not only improve, but continue to improve even after therapy ends.

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is an extremely effective therapy. You can say with conviction that if a patient commits to this therapy, it really has a good chance of reducing suffering.

Some of the CBT techniques that have proven effective for panic disorder include breathing retraining, cognitive restructuring, and relaxation training.

Anxiety disorders are commonly seen in primary care, whether they present on their own, or comorbid with other illnesses. There’s good evidence for both cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy in anxiety disorders, but many patients don’t receive such treatment.