When I became a certified personality disorder treatment provider in 2023, I was taught the difference between treatment and management of mental, emotional, and behavioral health conditions. Understandably, many psychotherapists conflate these terms.
Even leading sources of definitions use these terms synonymously. For instance, Merriam-Webster defines treatment as the action or way of treating a patient or a condition medically or surgically: management and care to prevent, cure, ameliorate, or slow progression of a medical condition.
However, in the manual for the 3-Day Personality Disorders Course: Advanced Diagnosis, Treatment & Management, the following clarification is provided:
Management:
· Management is designed to reduce harm
· Management’s purpose is to reduce unproductive escalations
· Management is not designed to make the patient feel better, only to behave less destructively
· You are managing any time your goal is to reduce harm. This may be reduction in suicidal behavior, cutting, or other self-harm, threatening behavior, chemical abuse, or other forms of unsafe or overtly self-destructive behavior. The cognitive and affective patterns of the patient are only addressed to the degree needed in order to constrain and diminish the escalated behavior.
Treatment
· Treatment is designed to repair the self
· Treatment’s purpose is to improve the patient’s functioning
· Treatment is designed to make the patient behave, think, and feel better
· You are treating whenever you are trying to make improvements in the patient’s behavior, cognitions, and affect, rather than simply trying to lessen the disordered functioning. Treatment is designed to get the patient “better.”
The bottom line is that management reduces symptoms enough for an individual to moderate self-disturbance while treatment increases overall functioning. Regarding the latter, I promote the improved ability to employ healthy strategies (function) and improve overall quality of life (i.e., getting better).
Still, it’s worth noting that having become a certified personality disorder treatment provider has little to do with the training and experience I have in regard to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). One may wonder why I highlight this distinction.
REBT is a transdiagnostic psychotherapeutic modality. This means that REBT practitioners don’t necessarily relay on formal diagnoses in order to treat or manage problems presented by clients.
Using the ABC model and unconditional acceptance, REBT practitioners aim to help people get better rather than to merely feel better. This is true irrespective of whether or not a client has been diagnosed with a mood or personality disorder, or has no diagnosis at all.
Expanding upon this topic, I stated in a blogpost entitled Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment:
As prevention seeks to keep something from happening and diagnosis is the process of assessing symptoms to identify something, I aim to reduce the impact of irrational beliefs in relation to a client’s emotional, body sensation, and behavioral outcomes. This is my psychotherapeutic objective for treatment.
Thus, when using REBT with clients I help prevent, treat, and manage problems so that people can practice rational living. Noteworthy, one source states, “Treatment aims to alleviate/ reduce/ remove a (medical) condition. Management is essentially keeping the condition in control.”
For those clients with diagnoses and with whom I practice REBT, I’m not removing a clinical diagnosis (e.g., borderline personality disorder). Nevertheless, I do assist people with alleviation of and control over self-disturbance.
Helpfully, one source states that “the insurance industry has created a menu of ‘plans’ that restrict treatment before it happens and deny management from the day you purchase the plan,” highlighting yet another reason I don’t accept insurance. Thus, treatment and management addressed herein isn’t used in association with questionable insurance providers.
In common parlance, treatment is used if a condition can be fixed or cured while management is utilized for chronic or incurable conditions. However, I hope to have clarified my approach to treatment versus management herein, as I’m not curing anything though helping to improve an individual’s ability to reduce self-disturbance.
If you’re looking for a provider who works to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply helping you to feel better, I want to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
Photo credit (edited), fair use
References:
Hollings, D. (2024, April 20). A transdiagnostic approach. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/a-transdiagnostic-approach
Hollings, D. (2024, March 15). Diagnoses feel empowering. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/diagnoses-feel-empowering
Hollings, D. (2022, March 15). Disclaimer. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/disclaimer
Hollings, D. (2023, September 8). Fair use. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/fair-use
Hollings, D. (2024, April 2). Four major irrational beliefs. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/four-major-irrational-beliefs
Hollings, D. (2023, October 12). Get better. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/get-better
Hollings, D. (n.d.). Hollings Therapy, LLC [Official website]. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/
Hollings, D. (2022, June 20). Insurance coverage and lengthy wait times. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/insurance-coverage-and-lengthy-wait-times
Hollings, D. (2023, September 19). Life coaching. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/life-coaching
Hollings, D. (2024, March 4). Mental, emotional, and behavioral health. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/mental-emotional-and-behavioral-health
Hollings, D. (2023, September 3). On feelings. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/on-feelings
Hollings, D. (2024, January 13). Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/prevention-diagnosis-and-treatment
Hollings, D. (2023, September 15). Psychotherapeutic modalities. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychotherapeutic-modalities
Hollings, D. (2024, May 5). Psychotherapist. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychotherapist
Hollings, D. (2022, March 24). Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-rebt
Hollings, D. (2024, May 15). Rational living. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-living
Hollings, D. (2022, November 1). Self-disturbance. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/self-disturbance
Hollings, D. (2024, April 21). Sensation. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/sensation
Hollings, D. (2022, November 9). The ABC model. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-abc-model
Hollings, D. (2022, July 11). Unconditional acceptance. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/unconditional-acceptance
InnererSchweinehund. (2019, June 24). Re: treatment vs management. ATAR Notes Media Pty Ltd. Retrieved from https://archive.atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=186080.0
Jay. (2018, April 10). What is the different between treatment and management? Active Physical Therapy Solutions. Retrieved from https://www.activeptsolutions.com/article-item/different-treatment-management/
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Treatment. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treatment
Persi. (2018, October). 3-day personality disorders course: Advanced diagnosis, treatment & management. Manual: ZNM054180. Pesi, Inc.
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