A psychoanalytic view on pharmacological therapy of mental disorders

PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDIES

Abstract

A vast part of the whole body of research in psychotherapy explores biological implications of psychoanalysis and talking cure. However, I argue that reverting the research focus is necessary as well: what are the psychological processes to be observed in biological therapy of mental disorders? In this paper I explore some key attempts to study the effects the medication has on a patient, as well as its influences on the analytic process, published since the 1950s till the present day. After discussing the main tendencies, I suggest to delineate two threads one may observe in the whole body of psychoanalytic research on psychopharmacological treatment: 1) the "analytic" thread which emphasises the direct effect of a medication and the intra-psychic processes; 2) the 'psychological' thread which emphasises the place of medication in analytic treatment and inter-psychic relationship. This paper studies a number of psychoanalytic research papers published since 1950s till the present day by the means of thematic analysis. Not only it aims at exploring the main research tendencies and analyse them in context of development and current state of art in psychoanalysis, but also to introduce Russian psychoanalytic clinicians to the history and up-to-date debates upon the place and meaning of medication in psychoanalysis.