Goals of psychotherapy are varied

Psychotherapy is generally thought of as a verbal rather than medicinal approach to helping individuals with psychological difficulties. In clinical practice, psychotherapy and medication are often used together to help treat individuals with emotional difficulties, such as depression and anxiety.

Some of the aims of psychotherapy include assisting individuals with:

• Gaining insight into the reasons behind their unhappiness

• Changing self-destructive behaviors, including substance abuse

• Difficulties in relationships

• Communication problems

• How the individual's past relates to their current difficulties

• Unresolved conflicts with parents and/or siblings

• Distortions in perceptual and cognitive processes resulting in faulty thought patterns

• Adjustments due to disabilities or handicaps

• Health related issues caused by psychological problems

There are many type of psychotherapy employed in clinical practice. Following are some examples:

• Family therapy - A form of therapy treating the whole family. This approach views the individual as part of a system and counseling is focused on the whole system which includes the members of the family and the family's environment.

• Cognitive-Behavior Therapy - The focus of this approach is to help the individual identify and change distorted perceptions of themselves and the world around them. Focus includes past, present, and future and helps the individual challenge their unrealistic, irrational, and erroneous beliefs about their lives.

• Client-Centered Therapy - Often referred to as non-directive therapy, removes the helping person from the role of giving as much direction and advice and instead lets their empathetic and non-judgmental understanding assist in the process of healthy change.

• Psychoanalysis - A form of therapy in which the psychotherapist encourages the exploration of deeper, unconscious thoughts and experiences from childhood. This form of therapy often extends over months or even years.

• Couple's Therapy - Focuses on the relationship and communication patterns between partners.

• Mental health care providers trained to provide psychotherapy include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, psychiatric social workers, and pastoral counselors. Referrals to a psychotherapist often come from physicians, ministers, and educators.

Feeling comfortable with the therapist is essential with an open and trusting relationship being two of the most important elements in the psychotherapeutic process.

Copyright c 1998 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.