What Is Psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is a general term that is used to describe the process of treating psychological disorders and mental distress by the use of verbal and psychological techniques. During this process, a trained psychotherapist helps the client tackle specific or general problems such as a particular mental illness or a source of life stress. Depending on the approach used by the therapist, a wide range of techniques and strategies can be used. However, almost all types of psychotherapy involve developing a therapeutic relationship, communicating and creating a dialogue, and working to overcome problematic thoughts or behaviors.
Psychotherapy is increasingly viewed as a distinct profession in its own right, but many different types of professionals engage in psychotherapy regularly. Such individuals include clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, marriage and family therapists, social workers, mental health counselors, and psychiatric nurses
What Types of Psychotherapy Are Available?
Psychoanalytic Therapy: While psychotherapy was practiced in various forms as far back as the time of the Ancient Greeks, it received its formal start when Sigmund Freud began using talk therapy to work with patients. Some of the techniques commonly used by Freud included the analysis of transference, dream interpretation, and free association.
Behavioral Therapy: When behaviorism became a more prominent school of thought during the early part of the twentieth-century, techniques such as different types of conditioning began to play an important role in psychotherapy.
Humanistic Therapy:
Starting in the 1950s, the school of thought known as humanistic psychology began to have an influence on psychotherapy. The humanist psychologist Carl Rogers developed an approach known as client-centered therapy, which focused on the therapist showing unconditional positive regard to the client.
Cognitive Therapy: The cognitive revolution of the 1960s also had a major impact on the practice of psychotherapy, as psychologists began to increasingly focus on how human thought processes influence behavior and functioning.
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Psychotherapy can also take a number of different formats depending on the style of the therapist and the needs of the patient. A few that you might encounter include:
Individual therapy
which involves working one-on-one with a psychotherapist. Couples therapy, which involves a therapist working with a couple to help improve how the two function in their relationship.
Family therapy
Which centers on improving the dynamic within families and can include multiple individuals within a family unit.
Group therapy
Involves a small group of individuals who share a common goal. This approach allows members of the group to offer and receive support from others, as well as practice new behaviors within a supportive and receptive group.
Special Techniques in Psychotherapy
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
The belief of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is that a person's mood is directly related to the person's thoughts. The goal of CBT is to help people recognize negative thought patterns, assess the accurateness of those thoughts, and alter those thought patterns with healthier, more accurate thought patterns. For example, if someone does not do well on a test and they say to themselves, "I am so stupid! I can't do anything right." CBT strategies teach the person to acknowledge that a poor grade on a test, does not necessarily mean they are "stupid" or unable to do "anything" right. It only means they did poorly on that particular test.
DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy)
Skills DBT are a combination of cognitive and behavioral therapy that focuses on four main skills: core mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotional regulation. DBT is useful to enhance coping skills for those who have difficulty regulating their emotions, coping with stress, or have dysfunctional relationship patterns that interfere with maintaining a connection with others
Play Therapy
Involves using a variety of play and art therapy techniques to help children process a variety of emotional or personal issues that may be affecting their behavior and/or mood. Play can allow children to process emotions or experiences through make-believe in a way that they cannot in real life. The "sacred space" of the therapist's office gives the child a neutral, safe environment in which to do their "work". The therapist also helps give words to the child's emotions, helps interpret the symbolic meaning of their play, offers the child new strategies for approaching the problem, and helps build self-esteem and coping skills.
Sand Tray Therapy
In sand tray therapy, the sand tray represents the client's world. The client, (children through adults) chooses small figures and/or objects to create a version of their world or current problem. The creation of the world allows the client to visually explore their world or problem more reflectively. It gives clients opportunity to consider potential solutions that they can even manipulate in the sand tray. It also allows clients to develop deeper personal insights.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) EMDR is a trauma-based treatment. It is generally used when someone has a history of a trauma that continues to negatively impact and impair a person's life. It can assist in reducing the impact of the distressing psychological and physiological symptoms or images that accompany a trauma that keeps coming to the surface and causing psychological distress. It can also be used with significant anxiety and phobias that impair a person's life
