Treatment Collaboration: Improving the Therapist, Prescriber, Client Relationship [Paperback]

Ronald J. Diamond (Author), Patricia L. Scheifler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393704734 | ISBN-13: 978-0393704730 | Publication Date: April 17, 2007 | Edition: 1

This book is a guide for three groups of people: the psychologists and social workers who send clients to psychiatrists; the psychiatrists who prescribe the drugs; and the clients who are often caught in the middle.

A guiding principle is that collaboration, rather than coercion, is most likely to promote, achieve, and sustain recovery. Diamond and Scheifler discuss the often-competing agendas of these groups of people: "what does everyone want out of this relationship" and "how can we make these relationships easier and more beneficial for the client?" The book will also speak to each group of readers, explaining how they can participate more effectively in the process. For example, what questions should a therapist be asking of the psychiatrist; how is the best way to communicate? What is the best way to forge a strong relationship? What should the consumer do to make sure that she is getting the best treatment? Important topics addressed include: how to set goals with clients so that everyone is on the same page with the treatment regimen; how to manage inevitable conflicts that will arise; helping clients deal with medication side effects; working with clients to choose when medication is changed; how to focus on recovery as a goal and not just medication management.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Written in plain language and with a diverse audience in mind, this book...will be helpful to almost any therapist's practice. (Psychotherapy Review, Marshall Polakoff)

About the Author

Ronald J. Diamond, MD, is a professor at the University of Wisconsin Department of Psychiatry in Madison, and Medical Director of the Mental Health Center of Dane County. He teaches psychopharmacology to hundreds of social workers, counselors, nurses, clients, and families of individuals with mental illness each year.

Patricia L. Scheifler, MSW, is a psychiatric social worker who is self-employed as director of Partnership for Recovery, and has over 25 years of direct practice and administrative experience in Community Mental Health and Hospital based treatment programs. She has been featured in seven videos, co-authored numerous books, and has presented over 500 workshops across the country.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (April 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393704734
• ISBN-13: 978-0393704730
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,060,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Great recovery model overview, May 16, 2011

By 

Ellie S. - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Treatment Collaboration: Improving the Therapist, Prescriber, Client Relationship (Paperback)

Great reference book for anyone working in mental health. Also a wonderful book for anyone seeking mental health services. Addresses all aspects of mental health treatment (including the therapeutic relationship, collaborative decision making, the use of medication, relapse management etc.)from a recovery model perspective. This is a "gotta' have" book for anyone in the field.

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review - Treatment Collaboration - by Mona Wasow, October 9, 2007

By 

Deborah A. Komro - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Treatment Collaboration: Improving the Therapist, Prescriber, Client Relationship (Paperback)

Ronald J. Diamond and Patricia L. Scheifler have written a marvelous book on Treatment Collaboration, Improving the Therapist, Prescriber, Client Relationship. The books is comprehensive, dealing with the complex issues of collaborative decision making around taking medications, medical issues that arise in mental health treatment, and psychoeducation and recovery issues for clients. These are indeed all complex
issues and a great strength of the book is the clarity with which they are presented.
A classic in the mental health fields is called Relationship, The Heart of Helping People (H.H. Perlman, 1979). Treatment Collaboration also makes this a clear cut theme and one that is very much needed in our increasingly depersonalized world where the fifteen minute "med-check" is often the medical norm in caring for people with mental illnesses. There is an emphasis throughout this book on improving the relationships between the therapist, the person prescribing medications, and the client.
"Medication is never a goal of treatment rather medication is a tool the client can use to accomplish his or her life goals" (p. 14). The authors discuss in detail how the cooperative relationships between all parties: client, prescriber, and all health care therapists are the keys to being truly helpful.
Another big strength in this book is how controversial issues are so clearly handled. Our culture tends to swing back and forth between extremes. Two such in the mental illness field today are the pros and cons of medications, and the labeling of "brain diseases" vs. a more complex explanation of causalities. With detailed writings on the pros and cons of medications, the reader comes away with a much better understanding of this whole issue, and as such avoids fanatic unusable stances. This is also true with the careful presentation of the many biological and social issues that can play into mental illnesses, as they do in all serious illnesses.
Inevitable conflicts between competing values that clients and health care professionals may have, as well as misunderstandings between groups, are also well described. Social barriers between physicians and nonmedical health clinicians are described, along with solution and suggestions for how to eliminate the barriers. Throughout the book problems are described, and then solutions carefully spelled out. This approach is so helpful.
Other very important topics covered are psychoeducation, recovery, relapse management, and medical complications. Part III has four chapters geared towards clients, complete with a workbook they can use to help with their recovery.
I highly recommend this book as a textbook for educators in all mental health fields, for college students at all levels, for family members, and for clients. It is beautifully written, compassionate, easy to understand, and comprehensive.

Mona Wasow, MSSW
Clinical Professor Emerita
UW-Madison
School of Social Work