What is psychotherapy and who needs it?
You are thinking about psychological help, but have not yet clearly carry out in what kind it is possible? Let’s try to sort out this issue.
There are many forms and techniques of psychotherapy, and for a layman is quite easy to get confused. However, you can organize all of the available approaches in psychotherapy, according to several criteria.
Directive psychotherapy
This, above all, is psychotherapy of suggestion: hypnosis and hypnotic techniques, using the state of hypnotic trance. The method is based on a clear division of roles: physician – patient. The authority of the doctor is indisputable. Doctor knows what the patient needs and he firmly “implants” his knowledge: “makes the installation”.
In this case, as usually, the physician “does not delve in the patient’s problems, does not explore his inner world, and is not engaged in the analysis of his personal history. The main objective of directive psychotherapy is the adaptation of the patient to the environment, society.
Behavioral psychotherapy
This form of psychotherapy is widely extended in the West, particularly in the U.S. The basis of behavioral therapy is the teachings of Russian physiologist Pavlov and American scientists – behaviorist, Watson.
The main task of the behavioral therapist is to adjust patient’s behavior. Psyche and the processes occurring in it, for the behavioral therapy recede into the background, if not vanish completely. The search and implementation of methods to influence the externally observable behavior – is the main task of the behavioral therapist. The main operating factor here is the “reinforcements”. Reinforcement can be negative (punishment, in the broadest sense) or it can be positive (promotion). Manipulating it in a positive way, then in a negative way, behavioral therapist tries to influence the behavior of the patient in the right direction. The ultimate goal is the same – the adaptation.
Rational Psychotherapy
Rational Psychotherapy – is the psychotherapy which the main method is the explanation. The rational psychotherapist is engaged first of all in the conscious and rational perceptions of the patient. The emphasis here is positioned on the transformation of the “wrong” (false, distorted) representations of the patient about himself and the world on the way to the “right” (constructive, adaptive) representations. And, again, the final aspiration of rational psychotherapist is to help the patient adapting to his environments.
Depth Psychotherapy
And finally, the last in the list, but far not the last in importance is the deep psychotherapy. Depth psychotherapy is, primarily, the psychoanalysis and analytical psychology of C.G. Jung. This is a “tiered” system of knowledge, which advanced psychology to an entirely new dimension. The central and fundamental concept introduced by psychoanalysis, stands the concept of unconscious. Psychoanalysis not only acknowledges the fact its presence, but also the strongest impact on the functioning of the individual. This recognition has determined the fate of psychoanalysis as a method of knowledge and as a psychotherapeutic procedure. There has been, without exaggeration, a “Copernicus’ revolution” in psychology. Jacques Lacan, very accurate, called this event “the overthrow of the subject” – the destruction of human imaginary representations of the “I, as the center of psychic universe. Was discovered the world of “non-self” and its enormous impact on adult personality. It turned out that man is not the “boss” in his home. It revived the interest of psychologists to manifestations of “non-self, to dreams and symptoms. Dreams were proclaimed “the royal road to the unconscious”.
Psychoanalysts are learning to interpret dreams, trying to understand the unusual new world, so different from the usual awakening consciousness. They tend to take into account and subsequently to help patients understand the deeper meaning, captured in the symbolism of their dreams. The content of the unconscious requires reflection and study. That’s what determined the need to pass personal analysis by the analyst. Since then, the principle of “know yourself” should be applied equally to both parties of the psychoanalytic process, the client and a psychotherapist. The key here is precisely the knowledge of oneself, and not just working hours of the therapist understanding the clinical symptoms and syndromes, the mastery of psychotherapeutic methods, techniques and ways of their application. The psychiatrist, in his work does not interfere with the requirement of self-analysis: he is in a white coat, and this, as though, says it all.
In conclusion, we note that all these forms of psychotherapy as technically feasible procedures can be used by practitioners of different directions, if requested by the patient’s condition. The key principle should remain the rule: psychotherapy for the patient and not the patient for psychotherapy.
