Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

psychosurgery
Brain surgery once 
used to reduce the symptoms of 
mental disorder but rarely used today.
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 Module 
51 
Biomedical Therapy: Biological Approaches to Treatment 
569
Despite their current usefulness and future promise, biomedical therapies do not 
represent a cure-all for psychological disorders. For one thing, critics charge that such 
therapies merely provide relief of the symptoms of mental disorder; as soon as the 
drugs are withdrawn, the symptoms return. Although it is considered a major step 
in the right direction, biomedical treatment may not solve the underlying problems 
that led a patient to therapy in the fi rst place. Biomedical therapies also can produce 
side effects that range from minor to serious physical reactions to the development 
of new symptoms of abnormal behavior. Finally, an overreliance on biomedical ther-
apies may lead therapists to overlook alternative forms of treatment that may be 
helpful. 
Still, biomedical therapies—sometimes alone and more often in conjunction with 
psychotherapy—have permitted millions of people to function more effectively. Fur-
thermore, although biomedical therapy and psychotherapy appear distinct, research 
shows that biomedical therapies ultimately may not be as different from talk thera-
pies as one might imagine, at least in terms of their consequences. 
Specifi cally, measures of brain functioning as a result of drug therapy compared 
with psychotherapy show little difference in outcomes. For example, one study com-
pared the reactions of patients with major depression who received either an anti-
depressant drug or psychotherapy. After six weeks of either therapy, activity in the 
portion of the brain related to the disorder—the basal ganglia—had changed in sim-
ilar ways, and that area appeared to function more normally. Although such research 
is not defi nitive, it does suggest that at least for some disorders, psychotherapy may 
be just as effective as biomedical interventions—and vice versa. Research also makes 
it clear that no single treatment is effective universally and that each type of treat-
ment has both advantages and disadvantages (Hollon, Thase, & Markowitz, 2002; 
DeRubeis, Hollon, & Shelton, 2003; Pinquart, Duberstein, & Lyness, 2006; Greenberg 
& Goldman, 2009).
Study Alert
Remember that biomedical 
treatments have both bene-
fi ts and drawbacks.
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