I was copy editing a book on psychoanalysis last year (on the neuroses), and read a couple of novels that had to do with neuroses (Golem Song, by Marc Estrin) and therapy and inner demons (A Good and Happy Child, by Justin Evans). Around that time it occurred to me that treatment for mental disorders really need a long-term component, although CBT would offer patients useful tools for their daily life while in therapy. My sense, as a completely untrained lay reader, is that people with mental disorders need to establish long-term, trusting relationships with a single caregiver who is responsible for and interested in their well-being. This is not only for the sense that another person could care for and trust them, but also to develop the idea that they could care for and trust another person over the long run. A lot of skills go into building relationships, and it seems to me the therapist-patient relationship would offer a good opportunity to learn them.
Exactly right!
Commenting by HaloScan
