Wednesday Afternoon Clinic: A Supportive Care Program

Abstract

Introduction In individual psychotherapy the prevalent pattern of regular 50-minute interviews encourages the development of a relatively intense doctor-patient relationship. With many patients such an arrangement is the most effective. But for a number of years it has been clear that many other patients are unable to benefit from, or even tolerate, an on-going, one-to-one therapeutic relationship even when it is handled skillfully. The central idea of the program which is the basis of this report is that a substantial number of patientsmay be helped if the psychotherapy were arranged in such a fashion as to encourage them to relate primarily and essentially to a group of doctors and to a clinic rather than to one psychiatrist. Further, a plan was evolved of conducting the treatment in a clearly demarcated subclinic especially created for this purpose. The subclinic, named the Wednesday Afternoon Clinic, was designed for giving primarily supportive