Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is known to the general public as the end result that comes from discussion and helps the individual to find a solution to the problem that concerns him/her. The word psychotherapy actually means therapy of the psyche. Looking at it this way, we could say that all the methodologies which affect human behavior and relieve psychic pain are to some degree, psychotherapy. Psychologists, however, prefer to use the word psychotherapy only if it has been accomplished through psychotherapeutic methods such as a therapeutic relation and not with pharmaceutical therapy or other somatic intervention. In simple terms, psychotherapy aims to relieve the patient from his negative emotions through discussion and not through medicine or other methods. The American Psychiatric Association has announced that many problems of their patients could be dealt with only through psychotherapy and that even in patients where medication is considered necessary, psychotherapy plays a very significant role. So, since psychotherapy is accomplished through discussion, why should anyone visit a psychotherapist and not just talk to a friend or relative and find a solution to the problem which concerns him.
We oversimplify the term psychotherapy if we say it only includes discussion with a goal to understand a problem. For therapeutic change to occur, the course of therapy must include significant new emotional experience. In a safe environment, the individual must relive emotions that in the past he felt unable to face.
A fundamental assumption on which all psychotherapists agree is that human behavior can change.
Whether or not an individual has the ability to cope in an adaptive manner depends on everything he has learned in his early life through interacting with other people. He learns emotions, behaviors, values, habits, skills, and abilities, all of which compose his personality. From childhood, he is expected to face difficult situations and to find a satisfactory solutions for his problems. In his later life, the same behavior that previously relieved him from psychic pain not only doesn’t work for his good but actually blocks new ways of learning and behavior. With psychotherapy, the individual can learn new more effective ways to deal with anxious and painful situations.
Instead of aiming only at the solution to a specific problem as would be the case with counseling, psychotherapy targets the self-knowledge of the individual and examines the motives and the reasons which cause his distress.
For example, when a child becomes aggressive, he does it in response to aggressive behavior from his environment in order to avoid physical or mental pain. When he reaches adulthood, if he continues to defend himself with the same aggressive manner, such behavior is dysfunctional for himself and for those around him. Not knowing how to deal with this problem, he feels unsatisfied with himself and rejected by others. Painful emotions such as anxiety, guilt, depression, etc., cause him to feel inadequate and weak. Instead of being the master of his life, he becomes a victim of the circumstances and of his motions.
There are times when the individual doesn’t know and can’t justify how he feels or the way he behaves. We often hear someone say: I know I shouldn’t feel that way but I just can’t help it. Conflicts and thought patterns which are rooted in the subconscious are responsible for his insistence to remain trapped in disturbed behavior. For example, someone who learns to withdraw from painful situations as a child will continue to withdraw from any situation which causes him distress as an adult. The tendency to run which once protected him is now a barrier which prevents him from investing in meaningful relationships.
The purpose of psychotherapy is to ensure the conditions that will help the individual to find relief and at the same time to search, to recognize, to learn, and to develop the capability of self-knowledge, independence, and self-control.
Why should I undergo psychotherapy?
Usually, when an individual decides to go to a psychotherapist, it is to find relief for some psychic pain. He may be tortured by emotions of anxiety or depression. Also, he may have phobias which make his everyday life dysfunctional. Maybe, in spite of his intelligence, he has difficulty concentrating when reading or studying. He may have marital or family problems or he may feel that he doesn’t have the ability to develop meaningful love relationships. Maybe he can’t concentrate on his work. He may have psychosomatic problems which don’t have an organic cause; for example, sexual impotence, gastrointestinal disorders, headaches, dermatitis, and stuttering. He may have an eating disorder. He may be prone to substance abuse and become destructive both to himself and to others. He may have thoughts of suicide. He may lose control and become aggressive both verbally and physically. He may feel incapable of accepting the loss of a loved one. He may find no satisfaction in his existence. And finally, he may simply want to cultivate and enhance his personal maturity for a more creative and more complete way of life.
Goals of Psychotherapy
Some of the goals a person may have for psychotherapy are: to learn about his own thoughts and emotions to a deeper level; to understand and accept his inner strength; to refuse to play the role of the weak one and to use his strength to change his way of life; to clearly understand his values; to have a clearer perspective of his problems; to give answers to his internal conflicts; to dare to explore his problems and while doing so to be able to withstand the insecurity which may be created by such exploration so that he can open new doors which will help him mature and find a more functional and complete way of life; to stop blaming his environment for his condition and to realize that as an adult he is responsible for who he is and what he does; to become complete as a person after first having faced, having recognized, having processed, and having accepted parts of himself which he had previously undervalued and not accepted and had suppressed because of guilt or other negative emotions; to learn that he has other alternatives; to have faith in himself; to complete that which he has chosen to do and to accept the consequences of his choices.
Family Therapy (or Family Psychotherapy)
Very early in the history of family therapy, it became apparent that it was difficult to help a child with a problem without the involvement of the family. Usually, the dysfunction is found within the family and the problem of the child is a symptom of the intra-familial problem.
Communication plays a significant role in the family and one of the goals of family therapy is to improve the ways in which family members communicate with each other. Some basic rules for the therapy sessions are: everyone communicates as independent individuals; everyone participates in the discussion; and everyone’s opinion is heard with respect. The therapist ensures a safe and supportive environment so the members of the family can express, process, and learn to cope with painful emotions and experiences.
The rules by which the family members must abide play a significant role in the equilibrium of the family. Some of the rules represent the social values shared by the family. For example: “girls must help with the housework whereas the boys aren’t involved in housework at all.” Other rules represent the value systems of the parents of that particular family. For example: “don’t bother your father, any problem you have you should discuss with your mother.” Such rules may have applied in previous generations when the social structure and the roles of parents were different but are not clear and can’t be interpreted or applied consistently in the current generation. The therapist helps the family discuss and correct dysfunctional family rules. One problem which constantly comes to the surface is the application of rules relating to different ages. For example, a rule that on Saturday a child must return to the house by six o’clock in the afternoon logically applies to a twelve year old but under no circumstances applies to an eighteen year old.
Family therapy is effective in situations where a family crisis affects all of the members of the family such as; disagreements about marriage and the raising of the children, family conflicts concerning value systems, the generation gap between children and parents, the death of a family member, the moving of the family to another city or country, the loss of a job which affects the equilibrium of the family. Other people who are directly involved with the family may participate in the family therapy sessions such as; a grandmother, a grandfather, another relative, a friend, or other people important to the family.
Psychotherapy is known to the general public as the end result that comes from discussion and helps the individual to find a solution to the problem that concerns him/her. The word psychotherapy actually means therapy of the psyche. Looking at it this way, we could say that all the methodologies which affect human behavior and relieve psychic pain are to some degree, psychotherapy. Psychologists, however, prefer to use the word psychotherapy only if it has been accomplished through psychotherapeutic methods such as a therapeutic relation and not with pharmaceutical therapy or other somatic intervention. In simple terms, psychotherapy aims to relieve the patient from his negative emotions through discussion and not through medicine or other methods. The American Psychiatric Association has announced that many problems of their patients could be dealt with only through psychotherapy and that even in patients where medication is considered necessary, psychotherapy plays a very significant role. So, since psychotherapy is accomplished through discussion, why should anyone visit a psychotherapist and not just talk to a friend or relative and find a solution to the problem which concerns him.
We oversimplify the term psychotherapy if we say it only includes discussion with a goal to understand a problem. For therapeutic change to occur, the course of therapy must include significant new emotional experience. In a safe environment, the individual must relive emotions that in the past he felt unable to face.
A fundamental assumption on which all psychotherapists agree is that human behavior can change.
Whether or not an individual has the ability to cope in an adaptive manner depends on everything he has learned in his early life through interacting with other people. He learns emotions, behaviors, values, habits, skills, and abilities, all of which compose his personality. From childhood, he is expected to face difficult situations and to find a satisfactory solutions for his problems. In his later life, the same behavior that previously relieved him from psychic pain not only doesn’t work for his good but actually blocks new ways of learning and behavior. With psychotherapy, the individual can learn new more effective ways to deal with anxious and painful situations.
Instead of aiming only at the solution to a specific problem as would be the case with counseling, psychotherapy targets the self-knowledge of the individual and examines the motives and the reasons which cause his distress.
For example, when a child becomes aggressive, he does it in response to aggressive behavior from his environment in order to avoid physical or mental pain. When he reaches adulthood, if he continues to defend himself with the same aggressive manner, such behavior is dysfunctional for himself and for those around him. Not knowing how to deal with this problem, he feels unsatisfied with himself and rejected by others. Painful emotions such as anxiety, guilt, depression, etc., cause him to feel inadequate and weak. Instead of being the master of his life, he becomes a victim of the circumstances and of his motions.
There are times when the individual doesn’t know and can’t justify how he feels or the way he behaves. We often hear someone say: I know I shouldn’t feel that way but I just can’t help it. Conflicts and thought patterns which are rooted in the subconscious are responsible for his insistence to remain trapped in disturbed behavior. For example, someone who learns to withdraw from painful situations as a child will continue to withdraw from any situation which causes him distress as an adult. The tendency to run which once protected him is now a barrier which prevents him from investing in meaningful relationships.
The purpose of psychotherapy is to ensure the conditions that will help the individual to find relief and at the same time to search, to recognize, to learn, and to develop the capability of self-knowledge, independence, and self-control.
Why should I undergo psychotherapy?
Usually, when an individual decides to go to a psychotherapist, it is to find relief for some psychic pain. He may be tortured by emotions of anxiety or depression. Also, he may have phobias which make his everyday life dysfunctional. Maybe, in spite of his intelligence, he has difficulty concentrating when reading or studying. He may have marital or family problems or he may feel that he doesn’t have the ability to develop meaningful love relationships. Maybe he can’t concentrate on his work. He may have psychosomatic problems which don’t have an organic cause; for example, sexual impotence, gastrointestinal disorders, headaches, dermatitis, and stuttering. He may have an eating disorder. He may be prone to substance abuse and become destructive both to himself and to others. He may have thoughts of suicide. He may lose control and become aggressive both verbally and physically. He may feel incapable of accepting the loss of a loved one. He may find no satisfaction in his existence. And finally, he may simply want to cultivate and enhance his personal maturity for a more creative and more complete way of life.
Goals of Psychotherapy
Some of the goals a person may have for psychotherapy are: to learn about his own thoughts and emotions to a deeper level; to understand and accept his inner strength; to refuse to play the role of the weak one and to use his strength to change his way of life; to clearly understand his values; to have a clearer perspective of his problems; to give answers to his internal conflicts; to dare to explore his problems and while doing so to be able to withstand the insecurity which may be created by such exploration so that he can open new doors which will help him mature and find a more functional and complete way of life; to stop blaming his environment for his condition and to realize that as an adult he is responsible for who he is and what he does; to become complete as a person after first having faced, having recognized, having processed, and having accepted parts of himself which he had previously undervalued and not accepted and had suppressed because of guilt or other negative emotions; to learn that he has other alternatives; to have faith in himself; to complete that which he has chosen to do and to accept the consequences of his choices.
Family Therapy (or Family Psychotherapy)
Very early in the history of family therapy, it became apparent that it was difficult to help a child with a problem without the involvement of the family. Usually, the dysfunction is found within the family and the problem of the child is a symptom of the intra-familial problem.
Communication plays a significant role in the family and one of the goals of family therapy is to improve the ways in which family members communicate with each other. Some basic rules for the therapy sessions are: everyone communicates as independent individuals; everyone participates in the discussion; and everyone’s opinion is heard with respect. The therapist ensures a safe and supportive environment so the members of the family can express, process, and learn to cope with painful emotions and experiences.
The rules by which the family members must abide play a significant role in the equilibrium of the family. Some of the rules represent the social values shared by the family. For example: “girls must help with the housework whereas the boys aren’t involved in housework at all.” Other rules represent the value systems of the parents of that particular family. For example: “don’t bother your father, any problem you have you should discuss with your mother.” Such rules may have applied in previous generations when the social structure and the roles of parents were different but are not clear and can’t be interpreted or applied consistently in the current generation. The therapist helps the family discuss and correct dysfunctional family rules. One problem which constantly comes to the surface is the application of rules relating to different ages. For example, a rule that on Saturday a child must return to the house by six o’clock in the afternoon logically applies to a twelve year old but under no circumstances applies to an eighteen year old.
Family therapy is effective in situations where a family crisis affects all of the members of the family such as; disagreements about marriage and the raising of the children, family conflicts concerning value systems, the generation gap between children and parents, the death of a family member, the moving of the family to another city or country, the loss of a job which affects the equilibrium of the family. Other people who are directly involved with the family may participate in the family therapy sessions such as; a grandmother, a grandfather, another relative, a friend, or other people important to the family.