Psychotherapy today includes a number of different approaches. In order to be effective, it is important to understand the type of patient you are treating, and the ability of the neuropsychologist or mental health professional to deliver the appropriate care.
First, what is psychotherapy? Psychotherapy is the treatment of emotional and personality problems by psychological means. There are many approaches today helping patients understand their motivations and focus upon correcting their symptoms. For example, today cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT) have captured the focus of the psychological and medical fields. The problem with these approaches is they are based upon the judgment of the neuropsychologist or mental health professional. There is a wide variety of ability among professionals basing their opinions only on observation of the patient, their intake process, and medical records. Yes, these are important, but hardly objective, i.e., information free of doctor bias, nor scientific. Without a structured approach understanding the patient’s symptoms, treatment will be nothing more than guesswork based upon the mental health professional’s impression.
On the other hand, Medical Adjustment Counseling® is based upon just that – A structured approach called the Neuropsychological Examination (NPE). This is an assembly of tests that determine thinking (cognitive), and behavioral changes due to a variety of brain conditions. The results of the NPE become the basis for treatment (Medical Adjustment Counseling®), based upon a scientific approach, free of doctor bias or merely listening to the patient-reported symptoms.
The findings of the NPE become the “blueprint of the patient’s condition and free of the patient’s personal interpretation of their condition. For example, what surgeon would operate on a patient solely based upon the patient pointing to where the pain is? He/she would do all their tests first, regardless of what the patient says. Medical Adjustment Counseling® is just that – The application of neuropsychological principles and evidence-based procedures that create the basis for treatment through counseling.
Medical Adjustment Counseling® focuses upon the patient’s understanding of their thinking and behavioral changes and the necessary changes to achieve effective treatment. Medical Adjustment Counseling® is a simple, straightforward conversation with the patient regarding their brain condition. What they have got, the symptoms, and what they have to do to move forward. The conversation is free from the oftentimes bizarre explanations rendered by mental health professionals. The difference between Medical Adjustment Counseling® and other psychological treatment approaches is the dependence between thinking and brain functions. This is made clear by the NPE results from which now the neuropsychologist has an orderly direction for treatment.
Medical Adjustment Counseling® is started after reviewing the results of the NPE with the patient. It is divided into four stages: Validation, education/explanation, accommodation, and integration.
Validation provides an opening opportunity for the patient understanding the nature of their diagnosis, that it is a medical situation, and not a psychological one whereby they are mislabeled when referred for psychotherapy. Next, the educational phase explains the NPE results and how they will show themselves in daily functioning. This becomes the basis of their care through counseling, biofeedback, cognitive rehabilitation, and family therapy options. Furthermore, the third stage, accommodation, is the most complex window in achieving successful adjustment to the patient’s brain condition. It is here that traditional psychotherapy, so often applied by mental health professionals and physicians referred, that is ineffective and counterproductive. The patients with brain conditions have a different set of needs not provided by traditional psychotherapy. Finally, reintegration consists of the successful change in the patient’s functioning across a continuum of social, work, and educational areas.
If you are dealing with a brain condition and do not want the stigma of being referred for, “psychiatric care and psychotherapy”, give us a call and we will address your neuropsychological needs as a medical patient with no “psycho-babble”.
Robert B. Sica, Ph.D., ABN, FACPN
Board-Certified in Neuropsychology #84, #255
Director, Principal, Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Services|LifeSpan
Fellowship-Residency Supervisor
Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neuroscience Division
Clinical Assistant Professor, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Clinical Assistant Professor, Seton Hall – Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine