Psychotherapy Health Article

Benefits

The generally accepted aims of psychotherapy are:

• Increased insight or improved understanding of one's own mental state. This can range from simply knowing one's strengths and weaknesses to understanding that symptoms are signs of a mental illness and to deep awareness and acceptance of inner feelings.
• The resolution of disabling conflicts, or working to create a peaceful and positive settlement of emotional struggles that stop a person from living a reasonably happy and productive life.
• Increasing acceptance of self by developing a more realistic and positive appraisal of the person's strengths and abilities.
• Development of improved and more efficient and successful means of dealing with problems so that the patient can find solutions or means of coping with them.
• An overall strengthening of ego structure, or sense of self, so that normal, healthy means of coping with life situations can be called upon and used as needed.

Though there are no definitive studies proving that all five of these goals are consistently realized, psychotherapy in one form or other is a component of nearly all of both in-patient and community based psychiatric treatment programs.

Description

Classic Freudian psychotherapy is usually carried out in 50-minute sessions three to five times per week. The patient lies on a couch while he or she talks with the therapist. Freudian therapy characteristically requires ongoing treatment for several years, though in Freud's era it did not. Most other forms of individual psychotherapy, including Jungian, counseling, humanistic, Gestalt, or behavioral therapies, are carried out on a weekly basis (or more frequently, if necessary), in which the person meets with his or her therapist in the therapist's office, and may or may not continue for longer than a year.

Group therapy is held in a variety of settings. A trained group therapist chooses the people that presumably would benefit and learn from interactions with each other. The size of a group is usually five to 10 people, plus a specially trained therapist who guides the group discussion and provides examination of issues and concerns raised.

Child psychotherapy is done for the same reasons as adult psychotherapy—to treat emotional problems through communication. The obvious difference is that child psychotherapy must acknowledge the child's stage of development. This means that the therapist may use different techniques, including play, rather than only talking to the patient.

A newer direction in the treatment of mental disorders is the use of brief psychotherapy sessions, often combined with medication, to treat neurotic conditions. Another short-term psychotherapy is often termed crisis intervention, and is used to aid people in dealing with specific crises in their lives, such as the death of a loved one.

Research & general acceptance

Psychotherapy, in its many forms, has been accepted and used throughout the world for more than one hundred years. It is normally covered as a valid treatment of mental disorder by both public and private health insurers. Because the various types of psychotherapy have different aims, and mental illnesses usually do not have absolute measurable signs of recovery, evaluating psychotherapy's effectiveness is difficult. As a general rule, the majority of people who undergo treatment with psychotherapy can expect to make appreciable gains. Studies have revealed, however, that not everyone who goes into therapy will be helped, or helped as much as others, and some will even be harmed.

Training & certification

Though the actual clinical practice of psychotherapy is very much the same among disciplines, therapists come from a variety of different fields, including medicine, psychology, social work, and nursing.

Psychiatrists are required to complete four years of medical school and one year of internship, followed by a three-year residency in psychiatry. In order to be a psychoanalyst, a minimum of three years further training at a psychoanalytic institute is necessary, along with personal ongoing analysis.

Psychologists earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology followed by a year of supervised practice, and additionally may take specialized training at a specific psychotherapeutic school, including therapy for themselves.

Social workers who specialize in mental health must earn a master's degree or doctorate before being allowed to practice.

Psychiatric nurses generally earn a master's degree and practice in hospitals or community mental health centers.

Most states in the United States require a license to practice as a psychotherapist, and by law in the majority of the states, they are accountable only to the other members of their profession.

BOOKS

Clayman, Charles B., M.D. American Medical Association Home Medical Encyclopedia. New York: Random House, 1989.

Coleman, James C. Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1972.

Engler, Jack, and Daniel Goleman. The Consumer's Guide to Psychotherapy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.

Taber, Clarence Wilbur. Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary. F. A. Davis Co., 1997.