Psychotherapy is a method of treating mental disorders and an activity supporting development or simply a way to improve the quality of life. The essence of psychotherapy is a series of meetings with a psychotherapist – a specialist who completed their studies and then undertook a psychotherapy course in the field of their choice.
Depending on the type of psychotherapy, it may last for weeks or years, involve individual or group meetings, be part of a comprehensive treatment, or be the only source of support.
Psychotherapeutic treatment encompasses a broad concept involving the practical and theoretical aspects of a psychotherapist's work and applying specific methods to particular patient groups.
Depending on the duration of psychotherapy
, it can be categorized into short-term and long-term psychotherapies. Short-term therapies typically last for weeks or months, while long-term therapies extend over several years, addressing complex and deeply rooted issues impacting individuals' lives. Short-term psychotherapy may be employed to address specific symptoms, often effective in crises such as job loss, grief, or relationship conflicts. Additionally, it can be beneficial in treating specific phobias, which entail fear of particular situations or objects.
Thanks to many strands of psychotherapy, it can be perfectly tailored to the patient's problem and its specificity. Each type of psychotherapy is characterized by a different source of inspiration, approach, method of conducting therapy, and theoretical assumptions. The main trends in psychotherapy are below.
The cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy method is widely recognized and rigorously tested for its efficacy. Rooted in behaviorism, it posits that behavioral disorders stem from learned reactions to various stimuli.
This therapy aims to facilitate the unlearning of ingrained, maladaptive responses and foster the development of new behaviors while reshaping thought patterns. It operates on an educational framework, empowering the patient to acquire skills for self-directed problem-solving.
Typically, the therapy spans 10 to 16 sessions, each lasting an hour. This approach proves most effective in addressing depression and anxiety. Additionally, it is employed in treating eating disorders, post-traumatic stress, and personality disorders.
The therapy operates on the premise that each individual possesses significant untapped potential, including abilities and talents, which they should harness for self-improvement. Humanistic therapy is characterized by a personalized, empathetic, and deeply understanding approach to each patient. It holds that an individual's challenges stem from adopting inappropriate norms and values that conflict with their genuine needs.
Therapy can be short- or long-term. It all depends on the type of problem and its scale. Therapy allows you to get out of difficult life situations. It effectively treats disorders such as neurosis, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. It helps to cope with difficult childhood experiences but also to get out of the trap of current life, e.g., marked by domestic violence. Therapy can help build a normal relationship and improve relationships with others for those who have problems with them.
It is a type of humanistic psychotherapy based on the belief in the complexity of man. The therapy aims to increase the patient's self-awareness towards deriving joy from life and show how to solve problems using inner strength and capabilities. The patient gets to know themselves better, discover their hidden potential, achieve inner harmony, learn the truth about themselves, get rid of stereotypes about themselves, and become aware of their limitations, making their life easier.
Gestalt is a long-term therapy. It lasts from one to several years. Therapy works well for most psychological problems. Most often, it is used by those who want to understand themselves better and improve the quality of their lives, e.g., by eliminating internal conflicts. It is very rarely used in the treatment of addictions.
Systemic therapy is a form of psychotherapy involving multiple participants, often within a family or marital context. Systemic therapy is based on several essential pillars. These are an examination of the entire system (holistic approach), changing relationships and communication, not the members of the system, perceiving the behaviors of family or group members as symptoms, equality of group members, and focusing on the strengths of the group and its members.
The duration of therapy varies greatly and depends on the problem. It can last either a few weeks or a few years. Therapy works best in solving marital problems (marital therapy) or educational problems, but also in situations of emotional crises, e.g., regarding the death of a family member, their illness, or divorce.
Systemic therapy involves cooperation between a specialist (psychotherapist) and the family or group that needs help. The first step is to determine its biggest problems, and the next step is to set the most important goals.
Systemic therapy must include no family members because each influences how it functions. Many psychotherapists dealing with systemic therapy compare it to the butterfly effect – sometimes, even seemingly insignificant actions can cause serious changes. Determining the causes of the problems is much more difficult without the ability to look at all these relationships.
After determining the greatest needs of the group, it is time to introduce changes in communication, expressing one's feelings, and perceiving the behavior of others – which, of course, is still done with the help of a therapist.
Therapy primarily involves individual sessions characterized by conversational exchanges during which the patient may recline on a couch and discuss personal thoughts, feelings, and associations. The therapist endeavors to interpret the patient's statements and foster an awareness of the life experiences and issues that influence the patient's current perception of reality. Psychoanalysis typically spans an average of 5 to 7 years.
Psychoanalysis is beneficial for individuals struggling with challenging and recurrent emotions that significantly impact their lives, such as anxiety, aggression, sadness, mood fluctuations, and low mood. Additionally, it may prove effective in addressing somatic symptoms.
During psychodynamic psychotherapy, the patient shares all pertinent information with the therapist, who establishes therapeutic objectives and aids the patient in attaining them. The therapist aims to uncover the patient's unconscious impulses and inclinations, often referred to as neurotic symptoms, and subject them to psychoanalysis during sessions.
Typically, this form of therapy is long-term. This therapy is particularly effective in treating personality disorders and addressing issues such as pathological shyness, aggression, profound sadness, and general discontent. It may also be beneficial in the recovery from addiction.
Psychotherapy can also be divided according to the number of people participating in it. Individual psychotherapy is based on direct contact between the therapist and the patient. They build a common space within which they move during therapy.
In the beginning, the therapist and the patient determine the so-called contract. It determines the frequency and duration of psychotherapy, the principles of its conduct, and the possibilities. The greatest advantage of individual psychotherapy is focusing on the specific problem of one person.
There is no room for accessory threads here. The most important thing for a therapist is the one patient to whom they devote their time. The therapist knows the thoughts and emotions well and knows what to expect from the patient's reaction, and at the same time, the atmosphere of intimacy favors opening up and building trust.
Group psychotherapy involves a series of sessions led by a therapist and attended by individuals who share common concerns. This form of psychotherapy is centered on the dynamics among the group members. While not suitable for everyone, participating in group psychotherapy requires a certain level of courage as it involves discussing personal issues in a group setting. Moreover, individuals may feel that the therapist's attention is divided among the participants, potentially impacting the quality of their treatment.
However, many therapists mention numerous advantages of this type of meeting, including easier acceptance of one's problem in the group context, strengthening self-confidence, a sense of community, rebuilding one's self-esteem, additional group support, and overcoming loneliness.
Participants in group therapy have it easier because they can use solutions proposed by other participants, and group reactions to individual problems may make a greater impression on individual people. The added value is that group members not only obtain support from others but can also provide support themselves, which gives them a sense of being needed.
In group psychotherapy, participants are selected based on shared experiences. The size of the group depends on the problems with which patients come. For example, in the case of anxiety disorders, groups should consist of only a few people. We can distinguish the so-called closed groups, where the number of participants is constant throughout the therapy, and open groups, where new people can join during the therapy.
Within the spectrum of psychotherapy, a distinct modality known as couple therapy addresses crises within relationships, not exclusively marital ones, that individuals find overwhelming. It can also serve as a means to enhance relationship dynamics and foster improved communication.
Mutual consent between partners is a prerequisite for engaging in couple therapy. Sessions involve the participation of both partners and a therapist, typically lasting longer than those in individual therapy, with session frequency at the therapist's discretion. In cases of conflict, the therapist must remain impartial, aiming to foster mutual understanding of each partner's needs and expectations rather than advocating for change in one partner.
Testing the effectiveness of psychotherapy is challenging because many factors may influence its final effect. The perspective from which the effectiveness of psychotherapy is considered is also significant – the patient's or the psychotherapist's assessment may differ on this issue.
However, many researchers have tried to solve this problem by using diverse measurement methods, from subjective assessment of patients to various personality tests and even brain imaging methods to check changes in brain neuroplasticity after therapy.
What psychotherapy kind is worth choosing? One that will be right for you and in which you will feel comfortable. Don't be afraid to go to several different therapists and compare their working methods before deciding on a specific type of therapy. Also, find out what problems and areas they work with from the therapist. If you suffer from depression or anxiety disorders, for example, it is significant to find someone competent in this area. In general, the effectiveness of a particular approach will depend on the problem with which you come to therapy rather than the techniques used.
It is an essential but challenging part of finding the right therapist. Some people feel from the very beginning whether they get along well with a given person or not. Still, I also know people who initially felt that a psychotherapist was not “right for them,” and after some time, they completely changed their minds and managed to build a strong bond and mutual understanding. It is such an individual matter that it is difficult to give any advice other than that; if possible, it is worth looking for a psychotherapist to whom we feel personal sympathy. It does not mean that you should necessarily look for someone similar to us, but if you feel that a given therapist does not seem to understand you at all, or worse, does not accept you, look for someone with whom you will feel at ease and will be able to talk about it without any additional resistance.
Table of Contents
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