Distinctive features of split treatments among psychiatrists and psychotherapists in Buenos Aires City and its surroundings

BACKGROUND: although psychopharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are very frequent in Buenos Aires city and its surroundings, there is no data about their combination. METHOD: an anonymous survey was used to bring up psychiatrists and psychotherapists opinions upon combined, integrated and split treatments. RESULTS: 411 persons answered the survey; 95% of all psychiatrists and 91% of the psychotherapists had any kind of experience sharing treatments; 63% of psychiatrists' patients received a combination of psychopharmacological and psychological treatments; the condition of being a biological or dynamical psychiatrist showed to be related to the percentage of patients to which they only prescribed medication and to the percentage of patients under integrated treatments; on a 1 to 5 points Likert scale, the psychiatrist and psychotherapists assigned an average of 4,2 and 4,1 points respectively to the utility of shared treatments. 35% of the patients treated by psychotherapists also received medication; criticisms to how the psychiatrists do their job were different depending on the psychotherapists theoretical orientation. CONCLUSIONS: triangular devices (between patients, psychiatrists and psychotherapists) are very frequent in Buenos Aires city and its surroundings, presenting important differences depending on the theoretical orientation of psychiatrists and psychotherapists. Their understanding and the preparation for the performance within them will have to be a priority in the curriculum of these professionals.