Learning Objectives
- Learn about factors that influence a patient’s presentation as “challenging” or “difficult.”
- Learn about factors for ourselves as healthcare providers that can contribute to experiencing patients as challenging.
- Develop strategies that minimize the impact of such factors and optimize the effectiveness of the provider-patient relationship.
Barbara E. Pritchard, PhD
Dr. Pritchard is a Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona, where she teaches and supervises psychiatry residents on psychodynamic theory and therapy. Her academic research interests first began to develop during graduate school, when she was awarded an NIMH grant that supported her research on the interpersonal aspects of depression. Since then, she has supervised the psychotherapy component of several Department of Psychiatry research studies in the area of chronic depression. Her research efforts were recognized with a special award presented by the Arizona State Psychological Association at its 50th anniversary convention. Drawing on over 35 years of clinical practice, Dr. Pritchard has served as a consultant to individual mental health practitioners as well as various agencies, institutions, and hospitals. She has been an invited speaker at local and national meetings, with a particular focus on the treatment of such challenging areas as personality disorders, eating disorders, and chronic depression. Her commitment to mental health-related education on behalf of not only psychiatry residents, but general health care professionals and the public, has earned her repeated teaching awards from the Department of Psychiatry and the public school system. Dr. Pritchard has served in various capacities in professional organizations, including as a past president of the Southern Arizona Psychological Association and twice a past president of the Southwest Psychoanalytic Society.
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