PSYCHOTHERAPY

WHAT IS PSYCHOTHERAPY?

Traditionally, the term psychotherapy has been used to refer to the treatment of mental disorders by means of psychological techniques, in a patient-therapist relationship. It is a process in which a trained professional enters a relationship with a patient for the purpose of helping the patient with symptoms of mental illness, behavioural problems or for helping him towards personal growth.

AIMS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

Psychotherapy is more than a talk between two people regarding some problem. It is a collaborative undertaking, started and maintained on a professional level towards specific therapeutic objectives.
These are:
– Removing Existing Symptoms: To eliminate the symptoms that are causing distress and impediments is one of the prime goals in psychotherapy.
– Modifying Existing Symptoms: Certain circumstances may militate against the object of removing symptoms (e.g. inadequate motivation, diminutive ego strength or financial constraints); the objective can be modification rather than cure of the symptoms.
– Retarding Existing Symptoms: There are some malignant forms of problems e.g. dementia where psychotherapy serves merely to delay an inevitable deteriorative process. This helps in preserving patient’s contact with reality.
– Mediating Disturbed Patterns of Behaviour: Many occupational, educational, marital, interpersonal, and social problems are emotionally inspired. Psychotherapy can play vital role from mere symptom relief to correction of disturbed interpersonal patterns and relationships.

PROMOTING POSITIVE PERSONALITY GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT:

Here psychotherapy aims at a resolution of blocks in psycho-social development to a more complete creative self-fulfilment, more productive attitudes, and more gratifying relationships with people.
– Strengthening the patients motivation to do the right things
– Reducing emotional pressure by facilitating the expression of feeling
– Releasing the potentials for growth
– Changing maladaptive habits
– Modifying the cognitive structure of the person
– Helping to gain self-knowledge
– Facilitating interpersonal relations and communications
There are various types of psychotherapy to cure the client from different types of mental disorders without side effect.