6/8/2023 Grand Rounds

William H. Orme, PhD
Adjunct Assistant Professor, McGovern Medical School,
University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston (UTHealth);
Adjunct Professor, Gideon Institute for Christian Psychology,
Houston Christian University;
Director of Education and Training,
Houston Methodist Behavioral Health

During this presentation, Dr. Orme will address the therapeutic challenge of working with people with difficult to treat psychiatric conditions or complex symptom presentations. Discussion will emphasize a mismatch between common treatment approaches and the needs of these patients. Key points will include awareness that working with this population requires a reconsideration of our understanding of psychopathology in light of recent research and a grounding of intervention in known factors that contribute to positive psychotherapy outcomes across diverse treatment approaches. To overcome treatment barriers for this population requires that providers view their patients first as persons, resist a hyperfocus on surface symptoms, and implement a flexible, collaborative treatment frame.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify barriers to treatment for individuals with difficult to treat conditions based on limitations in current healthcare delivery systems.

2. Describe the general factor of psychopathology that has emerge from recent research and how this differs from existing medical models of illness.

3. Discuss key common factors in psychotherapy outcome research that apply to work with difficult to treat patients.