A view from Riggs: treatment resistance and patient authority - III. What is psychodynamic psychopharmacology? An approach to pharmacologic treatment resistance.

The authors explore the phenomenon of treatment resistance in relation to medications. They also propose and define a discipline of "psychodynamic psychopharmacology," describe its philosophical underpinnings and make technical recommendations for the psychodynamic treatment of pharmacologic treatment resistance. The authors review the recent literature suggesting a major role for interpersonal and meaning effects in positive pharmacologic treatment outcomes, and suggest that many patients are "treatment-resistant" to medications because an appreciation of the patient's dynamics is not incorporated into an understanding of repeated treatment failures.