BASIC APPROACHES OF PSYCHOTHERAPIES

“The purpose of psychotherapy is to set people free”.

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is a way to help people with a broad variety of mental illnesses and emotional difficulties. It can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so a person can function better and can increase well-being and healing.

 Psychotherapy acts as a roadmap for psychologists: It guides them through the process of understanding clients and their problems and developing solutions. The purpose of psychotherapy is to explore thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with the goal of problem-solving or achieving higher levels of functioning. Psychotherapy aims to increase the individual’s sense of their well-being. People have many issues that can be discussed through various therapies.

The most popular kinds of psychotherapy which are most commonly used are as follows:

• Psychodynamic Therapy – It is the psychological interpretation of mental and emotional processes. It was developed as a simpler, less-lengthy alternative to psychoanalysis. It addresses the foundation and formation of psychological processes. In this way, it seeks to reduce symptoms and improve people’s lives. In this, mental and emotional processes are psychological interpretation. The therapist reviews certain factors like emotions, thoughts, early life experiences, beliefs. People tend to develop defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms may keep painful feelings, memories, and experiences in the unconscious. A few common defense mechanisms include denial, repression, and rationalization. These therapists encourage people to speak freely about their emotions, desires, and fears. According to psychodynamic theory, the behavior is influenced by unconscious thought. But if the vulnerable or painful feelings are processed, the defense mechanisms reduce or resolve. An example of this therapy is, skin picking is a compulsion that would be linked to a developmental trauma that can be treated by the psychodynamic therapy.
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – It is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on modifying dysfunctional emotions, behaviors, and thoughts by interrogating and uprooting negative or irrational beliefs. It is a “solutions-oriented” form of talk therapy. CBT rests on the idea that thoughts and perceptions influence behavior. Feeling distressed, in some cases, may distort one’s perception of reality. CBT identifies harmful thoughts, assess whether they are an accurate depiction of reality, and, if they are not, employ strategies to challenge and overcome them. CBT focuses on present circumstances and emotions in real-time, as opposed to childhood clinician who practices CBT will likely as about family history to get a better sense of the entire person, but will not spend inordinate time on past events. The emphasis is on what a person is telling themselves that might result in anxiety or disturbance. A person is then encouraged to address rational concerns practically and to challenge irrational beliefs, rumination. For example, a person who is upset about being single will be encouraged to take concrete measures but also question any undue negativity or unwarranted premise that they attach to this present-day fact like they will be alone forever.                                                                          
• Family Therapy – Family therapy or family counseling is a form of treatment that is designed to address specific issues affecting the health and functioning of a family. It can be used to help a family through a difficult period, a major transition, or mental or behavioral health problems in family members. The basic motive of family therapy is to help family members improve communication, solve family problems, understand and handle special family situations (for example, death, serious physical or mental illness, or child and adolescent issues), and create a better functioning home environment.

• Group Therapy – In this, one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. A type of psychiatric care in which several patients meet with one or more therapists at the same time. Every individual gets the supports from each other as well as they receive expert care and advice. The group therapy model is particularly appropriate for psychiatric illnesses that are support-intensive, such as anxiety disorders, or it is a type of psychoanalysis in which patients analyze each other with the assistance of one or more psychotherapists, as in an “encounter group”. Benefits of Group therapy: it helps you realize you’re not alone, it facilitates giving and receiving support, it helps you find your “voice”, It provides a safety net, it helps you relate to others and yourself in healthier ways. 
• Dialectical Behavioural Therapy – This therapy is compared with cognitive-behavioral therapy. It may be used to treat suicidal and other self-destructive behaviors. Dialectical behavior therapy is a comprehensive, evidence-based treatment for borderline personality disorder. DBT has the most empirical support include parasuicidal women with a borderline personality disorder, but there have been promising findings for patients with BPD and substance use disorders, persons who meet criteria for binge-eating disorder, and depressed elderly patients. It teaches the client four types of skills:  mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotion regulation.                                                    
• Interpersonal Therapy – It this form the focus is on a patient’s relationships with peers and family members and the way they see themselves. This therapy is based on exploring issues in relationships with other people. For examples grief and loss and role transitions, such as retirement or divorce. In this process, an individual’s relational experiences, their thoughts about themselves, and their familial experiences bring about an awareness of how these three domains impact one’s present circumstances.

Therapy helps you get in contact with what is essential for you and helps you start moving in that direction. It can provide you tools to deal with barriers that are getting in the way of your life that you’d want to live. “Therapy isn’t just about helping you feel better – it’s about helping you live better”.