Brief psychological treatments

Abstract

Psychological treatments developed in hospital settings are not always feasible in primary care. The primary care team may not have the specialist experience or the time needed to deliver such treatments effectively. If psychological treatments are to be more widely available in primary care they need to be not only effective, but also brief and relatively simple. Problem-solving therapy has been developed in Oxford as such a treatment. A series of studies has demonstrated that problem-solving is an effective treatment for anxiety disorders of otherwise poor prognosis in primary care. Importantly, it is an effective treatment, not only when given by a psychiatrist, but also when given by a trained general practitioner. Problem-solving is now being evaluated as a possible treatment for depressive disorders in primary care.