Empathy in the Care of Individuals With Schizophrenia: A Vital Element of Treatment.

Although therapist empathy has long been recognized as one of the most important ingredients of successful psychotherapy, its role in the treatment of schizophrenia has been neglected, relative to the treatment of other psychiatric disorders. In this article, the authors aimed to explore historical and modern conceptions of the use of empathy in work with patients with schizophrenia, review the research on empathy as applied generally in psychotherapy and as it pertains to this population, and offer a case study demonstrating empathy's instrumental role in the management of schizophrenia. Empathic understanding of patients with schizophrenia has relevance across treatment settings: in psychotherapy, on inpatient psychiatric units, in the emergency department, and at home with family or caregivers. An empathic understanding of the psychological process occurring in schizophrenia is a vital component of effective treatment.

Remembering Silvano Arieti 40 Years Later.

Silvano Arieti is known for his comprehensive psychodynamic and biological theory of schizophrenia and mental illness. His writings continue to inform modern psychiatric theory and psychotherapeutic approaches to schizophrenia.

A Brief History of Lithium Treatment in Psychiatry.

The history of lithium as a psychiatric medication is marked by its serendipitous discovery, its lengthy path to US Food and Drug Administration approval, and controversy surrounding its current status in bipolar disorder treatment. Without doubt, the discovery of lithium as a psychotropic agent forever changed the course of psychiatry. The drug's fascinating, and sometimes contentious, history is reviewed here.