Term Paper on "Psychotherapy Is a Treatment"

Term Paper 6 pages (2051 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Psychotherapy is a treatment in which a client expresses his thoughts, feelings, actions and relationships to a skilled professional called Psychotherapist. The Psychotherapist assesses the expressions of the client to identify problem areas and recommends changes that are needed to enhance psychological adjustment that leads to happiness in life. In Psychotherapy, the client understands the need for change and the method to change that will result in better life adjustment and happiness. Psychotherapy can take place in following stages: to identify life adjustment problems by the client with the help of Psychotherapist through self-appraisal; to identify the root causes for these problems; to construct a plan for change to settle the problems; to assist in ensuring the planned changes takes place by way of education, coaching, emotional support and by devising life goals. A client undergoing psychotherapy should meet the psychotherapist at fixed periodical intervals. Psychotherapy will aid those clients with following problems: life problems; depression, anxiety and anger; unable to handle a major life decision; a problem with a main relationship; unable to handle serious illness; stressful job and perplexed in life. (Psychotherapy and Counseling)

Theories of Psychotherapy:

Psychotherapy is a treatment, which not only involves discussions with the client, but also involves use of certain techniques. Various therapies are available for Psychotherapists. Based on the client's problems and his personality, Psychotherapists employ either one or a combination of therapies to overcome the problems of the client. (an Introduction to Psychotherapy) There are four different theories of Psychotherapy. They are: Psychodynamic theory, Cognitive-Behavioral theory, and Humanistic theory and Eclecticism theory. (Types of Therapies-Theoretical Orientations and Practices of Therapists) in this paper, we will briefly describe these theories.

Psychodynamic Therapy:

In this therapy, the root cause for the problems is traced back to childhood days of the client. This theory assumes that the psychological problems of the client occur due to the progression of events the client is experiencing from his school days. The client's hardship with his parents, teachers and friends adds on as years roll by and becomes a problem in later years. Psychodynamic therapists examine the client in terms of their feelings about their parents, school friends, and so on. Then, they try to interpret these feelings in such a way that the client understands that their feelings are unconsciously motivated; this leads to correction of their feelings about the people concerned. (Types of Therapies-Theoretical Orientations and Practices of Therapists)

In this therapy, the therapist talks more than the client to understand the unconscious motivation of the client. During this interaction, the client may experience feelings for the therapist. This is called a 'transference' reaction. If transference can be handled in a careful way, the client can express his emotions vividly; the therapist will identify this as an emotion and explain the client that his reaction is only an emotional feeling. Then, the client will understand that he need not be so bothered about these emotions. However, if the therapist makes wrong interpretations, the client may go to defensive mood and the therapy will not work. This therapy is a long-term therapy. (Types of Psychological Treatment)

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy:

This theory stresses on the thoughts or cognitions the individual is developing over the years as these thoughts shape him in a good way or otherwise. In other words, the therapist focuses on the social learning of the client to understand him. Social learning refers to learning by observation and by imitation. A child watching his parent's action thinks about the action and tries to follow that action. If a parent is very strict and gives no respect to others feelings, the child thinks that is the right way and adopts it. Similarly, if a parent controls intense emotions, the child also thinks that controlling strong emotions is important. These thought forms becomes their inner drives as they grow older and leads to problems in later years. Cognitive-behavioral therapists try to understand these erratic thought patterns in the minds of client and educate them on how change of thinking can bring fruitful results. This therapy is comparatively short-term. (Types of Therapies-Theoretical Orientations and Practices of Therapists)

Unlike psychodynamic therapy, where the therapist tries to understand the unconscious motivation, cognitive-behavioral therapy can make changes in a client even though the client do not understand why the change occurs. Hence, this therapy takes less time. This therapy assumes that our actions are due to our thoughts; hence, by changing the thought patterns, our behaviors can be changed. One example that distinguishes psychodynamic therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy is treating anger. Cognitive therapy suggests relaxation by taking deep breaths to overcome anger. But psychodynamic therapy traces this anger to similar experiences of unconscious anger in earlier days; this helps to understand the feelings and corrective actions can be takes with full awareness. (Types of Psychological Treatment)

Humanistic Therapy:

This theory assumes that human beings are good and positive. Their behavior is motivated by their drive to achieve more in the years to come. This theory assumes that individuals are conscious about their own existence and hence they are free to make their own choices to ensure their existence. Their choices include theirs emotions, feelings and behaviors. Individuals are responsible for their actions irrespective of their experiences in childhood days. This leads to lots of philosophical conflicts like strict or lenient behavior, authentic or fake, etc. This therapy tries to address these struggles of the client by treating each client as a unique individual. This therapy understands the strengths and weakness of the client and suggests solutions to overcome their problems. The therapist acts like a guide rather than like a teacher or an expert. This therapy takes more time as it depends on the individual concerned and it takes a larger view. (Types of Therapies-Theoretical Orientations and Practices of Therapists)

Eclecticism Therapy:

This is a widely used therapy as it considers all the above therapies to fit a client. In this therapy, a client will be viewed as per psychodynamic technique but will be treated with active interventions as in cognitive technique. The therapist will look at the client from client's viewpoint to understand his behavior, thought patterns and relate them all to fit the individual in right perspective. Then, depending upon the condition of the client, they choose the appropriate therapy which can be one of the above 3 types or a combination of them as the important point in therapy is to cure the client at the earliest. (Types of Therapies-Theoretical Orientations and Practices of Therapists)

Personal Theory of Psychotherapy:

The aforementioned therapies have their own limitations. For example, psychodynamic therapy relates all problems to childhood days; cognitive therapy assumes thoughts as the sole reason for problems; humanistic theory assumes conflicts in human thinking leads to problems and eclecticism therapy tries to combine all possible therapies, but it is confusing. Hence, a new theory, which can address the above issues, is proposed. The three assumptions of the new theory are: a) There is no single therapy that can be applied to all clients; hence, therapies to be tailor-made for each and every client as the problems of individuals are unique to themselves. b) the root cause for the psychological problems of individuals is the unconscious; hence, the therapy should dig out the unconscious to solve his problems. c) an understanding of 'self' will aid in proper treatment; the therapy should assess how the client thinks about himself, that is the client's mental frame of himself; this understanding will help the therapist to interpret the client's feeling and take actions to correct them if the self-portrayal has problems. The first assumption of the new theory that every client needs unique treatment is closely matching with the Eclecticism therapy. Kelly's Personal Construct Theory helps in understanding a person's way of thinking (Personal Construct Theory)

Additionally, to understand the client's mind, other two assumptions can be used. This will remove confusing part of Eclecticism therapy. The 'Unconscious' refers to all that is unknown to the individual about himself but it is the unconscious that influences majority of individual's action or behavior. According to Freud, unconscious is a wastebasket for wishful impulses and he suggests that one should ignore it. On the other hand, Carl Jung divides Unconscious into two parts, namely, personal unconscious and collective unconscious. While personal unconscious is similar to Freud's idea of unconscious, collective unconscious refers to personal, cultural and spiritual growth. Jacques Lacan, a psychoanalyst, suggests that though our lives depend on conscious thoughts, we are more influenced by the unconscious. The unconscious can be revealed indirectly through the associations that surround it. A psychotherapist should aid in bringing out the problem by the client himself in his own unconscious language. Then, only cure is possible. (the Unconscious)

Kohut and Jung describes the concept of "self" in psychoanalysis. Self, according to Jung, is an "unknowable essence" that transcends our power of comprehension. Self, according to Kohut, is the way a person experiences himself as himself. Kohut focuses on the total… READ MORE

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