I Hate You--Don't Leave Me: Understanding the Borderline Personality

by Jerold J. Kreisman

Thus, the primary point to be gleaned from these studies is not which treatment works best, but that psychotherapeutic treatment does work! Unfortunately, psychotherapy has been figuratively and literally devalued over the years. Psychological services, in general, are reimbursed at a remarkably lower rate than medical services. Insurance payment to a clinician for an hour of noninterventional interaction with a patient (diet and behavioral adjustments to diabetes, instruction on caring for a healing wound, or psychotherapy) is a fraction of the payment for a routine medical procedure (minor surgical intervention, steroid injection, etc.). For one hour of psychotherapy, Medicare and most private insurance companies pay less than one-tenth of the reimbursement rate directed for many minor outpatient surgical procedures.