The Neurobiology-Psychotherapy-Pharmacology Intervention Triangle: The need for common sense in 21st century mental health

João G. Pereira · Jorge de Almeida Gonçalves · Valeria Bizzari

Jul 2019 · Vernon Press

About this ebook

This book intends to open the debate between three main aspects of clinical practice: psychotherapy (including psychological and philosophical influences), neurobiology and pharmacology. These three main themes are clinically applied in what we call the “Intervention Triangle”. The book will first focus on epistemologically distinct frameworks and gradually attempt to consider the integration of these three fundamental vertexes of practice. These vertexes are substantially unbalanced in the mental health field, and thus, this book tries to make sense of this phenomenon.

Unique in its interdisciplinary and comprehensive view of mental health problems and approaches, this book offers a new perspective on unidisciplinary integration that previous publications have not considered. As an innovative contribution to its field, this volume will be particularly relevant to practitioners working towards integrative frameworks. It will also be of interest to students, clinicians and researchers, in particular, those working in psychology, medicine, psychiatry, philosophy, social work, and pharmacy.

About the author

João G. Pereira is the Clinical Director of Romão de Sousa Foundation (Casa de Alba). He holds a Doctorate in Psychotherapy from Middlesex University, following a number of years in the UK National Health Service developing and researching therapeutic programs. He is a Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society (BPS), a Registered Psychotherapist with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and has been awarded the European Certificate of Psychotherapy by the EAP. He is interested in understanding what goes on in developing and sustaining therapeutic relationships and in the intersection between psychoanalysis, philosophy and neuroscience. João is currently developing Post-Doctoral Research in Philosophical Psychiatry at NOVA University of Lisbon and is a member of international research groups. He teaches regularly in Évora University, Metanoia Institute and other academic institutions. He is the author and editor of a number of mental health publications and is on the organizing and scientific committee of several scientific events. 

Jorge de Almeida Gonçalves has been a postdoctoral researcher at IFILNOVA – FCSH (New University of Lisbon) for ten years. He has a Doctorate, a Masters, and a Degree in Philosophy and a further Degree in Psychology. His current research area is the Philosophy of Psychiatry, with a special focus on the “concept of mental illness”, “empathy in psychiatry”, and “theories of schizophrenia”. Jorge has worked as a Clinical Psychologist for twelve years. He is also the author of several papers and editor of three books.

Valeria Bizzari received her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Pisa with a dissertation entitled “Phenomenology and Leib in the Contemporary Debate: an Embodied Proposal”. In 2015, she was a visiting PhD Researcher at the Center for Subjectivity Research in Copenhagen. While in 2017 she worked as a guest researcher at the Oxford Empathy Programme and the Clinical University of Heidelberg. Valeria is currently a DAAD postdoctoral fellow at the Clinical University of Heidelberg, where she focuses on the link between philosophy and psychiatry working on embodiment, intersubjectivity and psychopathology.