Psychodynamic therapy for non-compliance: a case report.

<bold>Objectives: </bold>This paper outlines the use of psychodynamic psychotherapy as an adjunct to treatment as usual for addressing challenging behaviours in a patient with schizophrenia under the care of a community mental health team (CMHT) in South Australia.<bold>Methods: </bold>Ms P suffered from schizophrenia and demonstrated challenging behaviours in the context of being administered depot medication under a community treatment order (CTO). Multiple attempts at addressing non-compliance and consistently disruptive behaviour through conventional methods had failed. Consequently, the novel approach of fortnightly psychodynamic psychotherapy sessions was trialled for 5 months, augmenting treatment as usual.<bold>Results: </bold>Psychodynamic psychotherapy proved effective for this patient. With treatment, she showed an improved compliance and overall engagement. Additionally, consequent to regularly receiving medication, her mental state improved and hospitalisations decreased.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Further research could lead to a better understanding of how and in what contexts, psychodynamic therapy and psychodynamic thinking can be utilised in the public health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]