Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TREATMENT/ THERAPIES
Psychotherapy is a form of mental health treatment that involves a
collaborative process between a trained therapist and an individual, couple,
family, or group. The primary goal of psychotherapy is to help people overcome
emotional or psychological difficulties, improve their mental well-being, and
enhance their overall quality of life. It helps in learning more adaptive ways of
perceiving, evaluating, and behaving.
The three types of mental health professionals who most often administer
psychological treatment in mental health settings are clinical psychologists,
psychiatrists, and psychiatric social workers. In addition to their being able to
provide psychotherapy, the medical training and licensure qualifications of
psychiatrists enable them to prescribe psychoactive medications and also to
administer other forms of medical treatment such as electroconvulsive therapy.
Why people seek mental therapy?
These are the motivations to involve in a therapy
Stressful Current Life Circumstances
People with Long-Standing Problems
People Who Seek Personal Growth
What are key elements of therapeutic alliance?
(1) a sense of working collaboratively on the problem,
(2) agreement between patient and therapist about the goals and tasks of
therapy, and
(3) an affective bond between patient and therapist for a limited duration
Clinical Approaches
Therapies –
A. Logotherapy - Logotherapy is administered through dialogue and
therapeutic conversation (In Logotherapy, the therapist is open and
shares her/his feelings, values and his/her own existence with the client.
The emphasis is on here and now. Transference is actively discouraged.)
between the logo therapist and the individual seeking treatment. The
therapist helps the individual explore and discover meaning in their life,
addressing existential concerns and guiding them toward a deeper
understanding of their purpose.
B. Client-centred Therapy (Carl Rogers) - Client-cantered therapists
establish a psychological climate in which clients can feel unconditionally
accepted (unconditional positive regard, i.e. total acceptance of the
client as s/he is), understood, and valued as people. Within this context,
the therapist employs nondirective techniques such as empathic
reflecting, or restatement of the client’s descriptions of life difficulties. If
all goes well, clients begin to feel free, for perhaps the first time, to
explore their real feelings and thoughts and to accept hates and angers
and ugly feelings as parts of themselves. As their self-concept becomes
more congruent with their actual experience, they become more self-
accepting and more open to new experiences and new perspectives; in
short, they become better-integrated people. This therapy helps a client
to become her/his real self with the therapist working as a facilitator.
C. Motivational Interviewing - MI differs from client-cantered
counselling because it also employs a more direct approach that explores
the client’s own reasons for wanting to change. The therapist encourages
this “change talk” by asking the client to discuss his or her desire, ability,
reasons, and need for change. These are reflected back by the therapist,
thus exposing the client to periodic summaries of his or her own
motivational statements and thoughts about change. The result is that
clients can develop and strengthen their commitment to change in an
active, accepting, and supportive atmosphere.
D. Gestalt Therapy (Freiderick (Fritz) Perls with his wife Laura
Perls) - In German, the term gestalt means “whole,” and gestalt therapy
emphasizes the unity of mind and body—placing strong emphasis on the
need to integrate thought, feeling, and action. The goal of gestalt
therapy is to increase an individual’s self-awareness and self-acceptance.
The client is taught to recognise the bodily processes and the emotions
that are being blocked out from awareness. The therapist does this by
encouraging the client to act out fantasies about feelings and conflicts.
This therapy can also be used in group settings.
Therapies-
Freudian Psychoanalysis - Psychoanalysis is a form of psychotherapy and
a comprehensive psychological theory developed by Sigmund Freud. It
aims to explore the unconscious mind and bring repressed thoughts and
feelings into conscious awareness.
Family Therapy- Family therapy began with the finding that many
people who had shown marked clinical improvement after individual
treatment—often in institutional settings—had a relapse when they
returned home.
Structural family therapy - This approach is based on systems theory
which holds that if the family context can be changed, then the
individual members will have altered experiences in the family and will
behave differently in accordance with the changed requirements of the
new family context. Thus, an important goal of structural family therapy
is changing the organization of the family in such a way that the family
members will behave more supportively and less pathogenically toward
each other. For this therapist tries to get along with the family members
and try to get the reason for maladaptive behaviours and conflict
generating casual factors and then therapist acts as an altering agent of
family interactions to achieve the goal of therapy.
This approach recognizes that no single therapeutic model fits all clients,
and flexibility is essential for effective treatment. For example, a
therapist might use cognitive-behavioural techniques to address anxiety
while incorporating psychodynamic exploration for underlying issues.
Therapists practicing eclecticism or integration need to be well-trained
and competent in multiple therapeutic approaches. A case study is given
for the same
Let's consider a client named Sarah who is struggling with anxiety and
low self-esteem. A therapist practicing eclecticism might integrate
elements from cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), humanistic therapy,
and psychodynamic therapy.
1. Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT):
The therapist may incorporate CBT techniques to help Sarah
identify and challenge irrational thoughts contributing to her
anxiety.
Sarah might be taught cognitive restructuring exercises to reframe
negative thought patterns and replace them with more realistic
and positive beliefs.
2. Humanistic Therapy:
Drawing from humanistic approaches like person-cantered
therapy, the therapist might emphasize creating a safe and
empathetic therapeutic relationship.
The therapist may encourage Sarah to explore her feelings,
express herself authentically, and work towards self-actualization.
3. Psychodynamic Therapy:
Exploring the root causes of Sarah's anxiety and low self-esteem,
the therapist may use psychodynamic techniques.
Uncovering unconscious conflicts, examining past experiences,
and understanding the impact of early relationships on Sarah's
current emotional state could be key components.
4. Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques:
Integrating techniques from mindfulness-based therapies, the
therapist might teach Sarah relaxation exercises and mindfulness
practices to manage her anxiety symptoms in the present
moment.
5. Goal Setting and Behavioural Interventions:
Incorporating behavioural therapy elements, the therapist may
work with Sarah to set realistic goals and implement behavioural
interventions to gradually confront and overcome anxiety-
provoking situations.