Psychotherapy – Repost from PsychCentral
Psychotherapy is a process focused on helping you heal and learn more constructive ways to deal with the problems or issues within your life. It can also be a supportive process when going through a difficult period or under increased stress, such as starting a new career or going through a divorce.
Generally psychotherapy is recommended whenever a person is grappling with a life, relationship or work issue or a specific mental health concern, and these issues or concerns are causing the individual a great deal of pain or upset for longer than a few days. There are exceptions to this general rule, but for the most part, there is no harm to going into therapy even if you’re not entirely certain you would benefit from it. Millions of people visit a psychotherapist every year, and most research shows that people who do so benefit from the interaction. Most therapists will also be honest with you if they believe you won’t benefit or in their opinion, don’t need psychotherapy.
Psychotherapy differs from psychiatric medication management. Psychiatric medication can be prescribed by a your primary care physician, Psychiatrist (MD) or a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (NP). Medication management focuses on correcting chemical imbalances in the brain that may be contributing to your psychological problems. Medication is prescribed to chemically correct biological symptoms such as appetite, sleep, and concentration. Medication may help but there are many problems that medication can not fix. There are also many problems that can improve rapidly with a trained professional counselor. Unlike a psychiatrist who spends 10-20 minutes writing your prescription every one to three months, a counselor typically spends 45-50 minutes per week talking with you about your specific situation.
Modern psychotherapy differs significantly from the Hollywood version. Psychotherapy is usually time-limited and focuses on specific goals you want to accomplish. Psychotherapy is a proven method to effectively change problems that you may be experiencing such as relationship issues, self esteem, difficulty coping with childhood abuse, addictions, suicidal thoughts, stressful life changes, grief, anxiety, obsessive behavior, eating disorders, depression and many other issues that cause you to feel upset. Does psychotherapy really work? Yes! Psychotherapy can create long term, lasting improvement with any emotional problems that you are facing.
Most psychotherapy tends to focus on problem solving and is goal-oriented. That means at the onset of treatment, you and your therapist decide upon which specific changes you would like to make in your life. These goals will often be broken down into smaller attainable objectives and put into a formal treatment plan. Most psychotherapists today work on and focus on helping you to achieve those goals. This is done simply through talking and discussing techniques that the therapist can suggest that may help you better navigate those difficult areas within your life. Often psychotherapy will help teach people about their disorder, too, and suggest additional coping mechanisms that the person may find more effective.
Most psychotherapy today is short-term and lasts less than a year. Most common mental disorders can often be successfully treated in this time frame, often with a combination of psychotherapy and medications.
Psychotherapy is most successful when the individual enters therapy on their own and has a strong desire to change. If you don’t want to change, change will be slow in coming. Change means altering those aspects of your life that aren’t working for you any longer, or are contributing to your problems or ongoing issues. It is also best to keep an open mind while in psychotherapy, and be willing to try out new things that ordinarily you may not do. Psychotherapy is often about challenging one’s existing set of beliefs and often, one’s very self. It is most successful when a person is able and willing to try to do this in a safe and supportive environment.
By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. , Jan. 6, 2012 Reposted from PsychCentral and revised