Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is a way to help people with a broad variety of mental illnesses and emotional difficulties. Psychotherapy can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so a person can function better and can increase well-being and healing. During psychotherapy, you learn about your condition and your moods, feelings, thoughts and behaviors.
Goals for therapy may be specific (change in behavior, improved relations with friends or family), or more general (less anxiety, better self-esteem). But one needs to understand that the therapy will be different and customized according to the age and gender. The therapy that will be used for a child will be different from what therapy will be used for an adult or a senior citizen.
TYPES OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY (CBT)
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps clients learn how to identify and change dysfunctional and destructive automatic thought patterns and beliefs that negatively influence their emotions and behaviors.
These irrational and maladaptive thought patterns and beliefs are believed to be contributing to emotional difficulties, depression, and anxiety. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy helps clients identify, challenge and replace these irrational and unrealistic thoughts with objective and realistic ones.
CBT is one of the most effective and widely used psychotherapy. It is used to treat a number of disorders such as depression, anxiety, OCD, panic disorders, it is also used to treat various psychological problems like anger, grief, couple or family problems.
Lastly, CBT is also used to treat some medical problems with psychological components such as pain disorder, somatoform disorders, hypertension, chronic fatigue and insomnia.
Psychoanalysis is a procedure involving investigating unconscious mental processes through a method of free association. During free association, the client speaks contents of consciousness without any censoring or aid from the analyst to gain access to their unconscious mind. In other words, clients are encouraged to speak freely about whatever comes to their mind.
The most common problems treatable with psychoanalysis include: phobias, conversions, compulsions, obsessions, anxiety attacks, depressions, sexual dysfunctions, a wide variety of relationship problems and personality problems.
Psychoanalysis is an expensive and long term treatment. Compared to other therapeutic techniques such as CBT, which usually lasts for weeks or months, psychoanalysis can go on for years. Psychoanalysis is a particularly good fit for those who want to develop a deeper understanding of themselves.
BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION THERAPY
Behavior modification is the process of changing patterns of human behaviour over the long term using various motivational techniques, mainly consequences (negative reinforcement) and rewards (positive reinforcement).
The goal of Behaviour Modification Treatment is to replace problematic, or disagreeable behaviors with more positive, desirable behaviors. Behavior modification works very effectively with children, although it can be used with adults too. Behaviour Modification is used to treat disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), irrational fears, drug and alcohol addiction issues, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).