Psychotherapy! What exactly is it?
Also referred to as talk therapy, has to do with various techniques used in helping people with various emotional difficulties and mental disorders. It can help in the control or elimination of disturbing symptoms that can prevent a person from living a healthy life. In other words, it can heal people and better their well-being.
Mental-health problems helped by psychotherapy include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), eating disorders, anxiety and depression. Studies have shown that these problems affect one in five people worldwide.
But, isn’t it a mystery how one human talking to another, as is the case in psychotherapy, can help in retraining the brain and ease mental disorders?
Although, how it happens hasn't exactly been explained. Psychological treatments have however undergone random clinical trials over a hundred times and guess what?
The results have proven its techniques to be the most effective way many mental disorders can be addressed. The various strategies or techniques of psychological therapy target different factors to improve mental health. These include cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social or environmental factors.
Granted the procedure requires time and effort, but treatment techniques of psychological therapy are just what most people need to overcome their mental disorders. Anyways, as effective as the treatment of psychotherapy can be, there is the need for you to know the technique or treatment that can work for you.
Mental health professionals have used several types of psychotherapy techniques. But the effect any of these techniques or types of psychotherapy can have on a patient hugely depends on the particular type of disorder suffered by an individual.
There is also the matter of choice of treatment preferred by the patient, and it isn't uncommon for therapists to sometimes use different aspects of a combination of techniques, to provide their patients with the desired treatment.
You would like to know the different techniques or approaches to psychotherapy treatment wouldn't you?
Interpersonal therapy (IPT)
Perhaps you have a mental condition and do not know that the cause of your condition is interpersonal. Using the approach of interpersonal therapy will help you unravel those problem causing interpersonal issues which are the root cause of your mental disorder. Such issues may include fights or conflicts with your lover, changes in work or social roles, unsettled grievance, etc.
The reason why people have such interpersonal issues is often due to their poor communication skills. And a person with poor communication skills will most likely have trouble expressing his or her emotions or feelings.
Interpersonal therapy can help you with that; it can teach you better ways to communicate your feelings or emotions.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
The target of this type of psychotherapy treatment is to solve immediate problems and help in changing distortions in behaviors, cognition and the regulation of emotions.
CBT helps in achieving this target by focusing on helping a mental health sufferer develop personal coping strategies. The combination of the basic principles of cognitive and behavioral psychology is the model of CBT.
What this means is that CBT is "problem-focused" and "action-oriented" (i.e., CBT is employed in the treatment of specific conditions that are related to a diagnosed mental disorder). The belief that unwanted behaviors and distortions in thought influence not only the development but also the maintenance of psychological disorders is what formed the basis of CBT.
It may interest you to know that CBT also helps in reducing symptoms by teaching new coping mechanisms and skills for processing information.
Therapy for Dialectical Behavior
Are you someone or do you know anyone with borderline personality disorder, PTSD, eating disorders or chronic suicidal thoughts?
Dialectical behavior therapy is the best choice of psychotherapy treatment for such mental disorders.
It helps those with such conditions learn or develop new skills that will help them change disruptive or unhealthy behavior. This type of psychotherapy involves both group and individual therapy.
Psychodynamic therapy
Do you know that most mental disorders experienced today, could be as a result of your childhood experiences?
If that is the case, then no other psychotherapy will be more effective in treating your mental illness than psychodynamic therapy. This is because the model of this therapy treatment is based on the idea that our childhood experiences influence mental health and behavior. In addition, this treatment technique is also based on the belief that unconscious, consistent and uncontrolled thoughts or feelings can be a major reason behind why we develop mental illness.
Those suffering from such mental disorders are required to work with their therapist to improve self-awareness and personally take better care of themselves by changing or dropping their old way of life.
Supportive therapy
This type of psychotherapy uses the approach of guidance and counseling to help people living with mental disorder to develop better coping mechanisms. It also helps in building the self-esteem of such people as well as reduces their anxiety and improves their social life.
With supportive psychotherapy, mental health victims whose conditions have prevented them from living a normal life can get the help they crave for to live better.
At Wake Counseling & Mediation we have well trained therapists to diagnose your mental condition and suggest the best treatment option that can cure or reduce symptoms of your mental illness.