Drugs and Clients: What Every Psychotherapist Needs to Know

This is a practical psychopharmacology textbook for all practitioners of the art of psychotherapy, especially psychologists, nurses, Marriage & Family Therapists, clinical social sorkers, and counselors

Depending on their training, mental-health professionals are often either strongly in favor of, or firmly opposed to, the use of psychoactive medications such as Prozac, Ritalin, and Valium. In Drugs and Clients, Dr. Catell advocates a balanced perspective, presenting the advantages and disadvantages of many common psychoactive medications.

The book, which is written for practicing psychotherapists as well as for educators teaching graduate courses in psychopharmacology, also focuses on how non-prescription psychoactive drugs such as alcohol, antihistamines, caffeine, cocaine, marijuana and nicotine affect the clients therapists treat on a daily basis.

From alcohol to Zoloft, therapists need to understand how these substances work, the nature of the risks and benefits, and how a drug or medication’s presence, or absence, affects the process of psychotherapy. Drugs and Clients addresses the often confusing and highly complex subject of psychopharmacology as it applies to psychotherapy in a clear, hands-on, practical style that makes it accessible to all mental-health professionals.