What is Psychotherapy – Definition, Types, Benefits & Cost

Psychotherapy Definition: What is Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is a way of treating mental illness, behavioral issues, or emotional difficulties using psychological methods through one-to-one sessions. It is often called psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy.

In these therapy sessions, a psychologist, psychiatrist, or mental health provider talks to the client with an aim of raising mental well-being. Throughout the sessions, the therapist focuses on teaching the client the ways of taking control of their life and responding to unwanted situations in calm and healthy ways.

Typically psychotherapy is suggested for people who are facing difficulties in daily life because of a particular issue like trauma, death or illness of a close person, mental disorders like anxiety and depression, etc. We’ll talk about these later.

Theories of Psychotherapy: What are the Types of Psychotherapy?

With time, psychotherapy has changed a lot after it was discovered. As a result, various diverse approaches have been discovered. Again, sometimes, new types were revealed by merging two or more types. Thus, when it comes to the types of psychotherapy, it is tough to be specific about the number.

However, here we’re going to talk about some common types of psychotherapy in short. Check these out.

Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychoanalysis is a bunch of theories and therapies that work with the unconscious mind. It was introduced by Sigmund Freud. With time, psychoanalysis is modified and extended and the end result is psychodynamic theory.

The psychodynamic approach focuses on the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of a person and analyzes those to find out the unconscious meaning and stimuli of those. Thus, analyzing the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, the psychodynamic approach asks and shows the ways to change those.

In this approach, the therapists help the patients to explore and understand their unconscious mind and learn what to change. That’s why psychodynamic therapy needs a close relationship between the therapist and the patient.

Cognitive Therapy

The cognitive approach states that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected. Behavior is the result of the feelings and thoughts in their mind. So, it focuses on changing the thoughts so that their feelings and behaviors caused by the thoughts change automatically.

In cognitive therapy, the therapists help the patients to identify core beliefs and thoughts, test the validity through structured methods, find out new beliefs and thoughts, and replace the invalid thought with new ones. Working with core beliefs is difficult. So, the patients should have full trust in the therapists. Therapists should earn trust by creating a healthy relationship.

Changed beliefs and thought automatically change the feeling or emotion toward a situation. The results of changed emotion are changes in the behavior. Thus cognitive approach changes behavior towards a situation by targeting the core.

Behavior Therapy

The behavioral approach of psychotherapy believes that behaviors are learned from the environment. So, it focuses directly on changing destructive and problematic behaviors. Instead of focusing on the root, it focuses on behaviors and problems and tries to find out the reasons behind those.

In this approach, the therapists help the clients to identify the problematic behaviors and actions, the environmental reason behind those, and change the behaviors consciously by picking out alternatives.

Behavioral therapy is of different types. Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) is the most known. Besides, exposure theory, applied behavior analysis, social learning theory, etc. are some types of behavior therapy.

Cognitive therapy and behavior therapy was merged when it is seen that the combination of these two is better in treating a lot of issues. Combining these two, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is introduced later. A form of CBT is DBT which is also an effective type of psychotherapy to treat several issues, especially Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

Humanistic Therapy

Instead of focusing and trying to develop some common thoughts and feelings, humanistic therapy treats the patient as an individual. It believes that every person has their individual feelings and ways of doing things. It focuses on using an individual’s ability to make rational decisions to boost their potential.

Humanistic therapy is client-centric. So, here, the therapist is neither in the driver’s seat nor directing the patient towards some commonly accepted rational behaviors. Instead of that, the therapist uses the person’s inner rational and positive thoughts to develop themselves. So, he is more like someone who is walking on the same road as the client.

Humanistic therapy is great for people who are looking for self-actualization. People with low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety experience a better recovery rate through humanistic therapy.

Holistic Therapy

Holistic therapy is the combination of different components from different approaches. Some therapists don’t prefer using only one approach. Instead of doing that, they pick different components from different approaches to design a therapy depending on individual needs. That’s why holistic therapy doesn’t have a strict structure to follow. It totally depends on the need of the individual.

Holistic therapy focuses on the whole existence of a client. So, it comes with a lot of elements for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the patient. Besides therapy sessions, it suggests yoga, exercise, breathing exercises, massage therapy, relaxation, etc. as part of the treatment process.

For the nature of looking at overall improvement instead of focusing on just one side, holistic therapy helps the patients to get an improved lifestyle. But there are criticisms too. Reaching the spirit of a person is not an easy task. It is almost impossible. Also, some say that while focusing on so many different things, the holistic approach doesn’t focus much on what is needed- psychological improvement.

These are the common types of approaches of psychotherapy described in brief. There are also a lot of different types, but somehow those are under one of these types. So, we’re not going to talk about those right now. Let’s move forward.

Formats of Psychotherapy Session

The therapy sessions can be of different formats. The therapist can choose one or multiple formats to apply while treating a patient. Typically, therapists pick at least two formats. However, let’s look at the formats of therapy.

Individual Therapy

Individual therapy is a one-to-one session where the therapist and the patient talk closely to identify the issues and remove or reduce those. Typically, in this format of the session, the patient talks about the things that they find confidential.

It takes place in a close environment where the patient finds it safe to talk. Individual therapy may contain a lot of exercises and worksheets through which the therapist helps the patient to work on their personal emotions, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors intentionally.

Group Therapy

Group therapy is a format in which one or more therapists work with a group of people (typically 2-15 persons) who are sharing similar issues or focusing on a similar goal. However, sharing a similar issue or similar goal is not mandatory. The therapist may use group therapy to make the patients socialized.

Group therapy helps the patients to develop the skill of communication, the habit of helping others, and acceptance of taking help from others. Also, it helps the patients to learn a lot from other members of the group, especially how to cope with a situation or handle any issue.

Sometimes, if the members are accepting, the patients can talk about their mistakes so that everyone can learn from them.

Marital Therapy/Couple Therapy

In this format of therapy, the therapist works with a couple to improve their relationship. The main focus of such therapy is improving relationships by enhancing communication, developing understanding, and finding out what to change. Couples who are facing difficulties in their relationship can take the help of couple therapy.

Couple therapy includes several exercises and worksheets that help them to know each other and find out the gap between them. Depending on those, the therapist helps with the way to remove the gap.

Also, couple therapy can be used in treating mental disorders. In such cases, the therapist informs the partner about the issues, the ways to treat the person, and how to cope with the situation.

Family Therapy

The name says it all. In this format, the therapist conduct sessions that include the family members of the patient. As the family is an important part of someone’s life and that is the place where the patient spends most of the time, family members should know the situation through which the patient is going, the ways to help, and how to behave.

Besides these, family therapy also comes intending to develop the bonding of the patients and their families. A healthy bonding between the family members and the patient ensures faster recovery.

To develop healthy relations and communication between the patient and family members, the therapist uses some techniques and worksheets besides talking to them. The main reason behind family therapy is making family members understand the situation of the patient so that he/she can get the environment needed at home. Otherwise, the therapy won’t improve the condition.

These are the different formats of therapy used in psychotherapy. Also, it is very rare, but the therapist can conduct sessions that include a close friend of the patient. It is also an effective way that ensures that the patient has some kind of support to help him/her in stuck situations. No matter which format is used, the main target is to help the patient get rid of the problems that they’re facing.

What Issues are Treated by Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy can be used to treat a lot of types of issues. Most of the mental issues can be treated effectively using psychotherapy. Below are some of the mental health issues that psychotherapy can handle.

• Mood disorders like bipolar disorder or depression.
• Addictions like drug or alcohol dependence, substance abuse disorder, addiction to gambling, etc.
• Anxiety disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic attack, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), different phobias, etc.
• Personality disorders like dependent personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, etc.
• Eating disorders like bulimia nervosa, binge eating, or anorexia nervosa.
• Psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.

But it is not only mental disorders that can be treated with the help of psychotherapy. Stresses, conflicts, and behavioral issues that are affecting daily life are also treated by psychotherapy. Below is how psychotherapy helps with those issues.

• Managing and resolving conflicts with others, especially partners or family members.
• Reducing or removing stress caused by work or any type of regular or frequent situation.
• Helping to manage unhealthy and negative emotions and feelings that result in unwanted situations.
• Helping to cope with unwanted but obvious situations in life, for example- the death of a close person.
• Making the sleeping habit and pattern better by treating insomnia or similar problems.
• Reducing sexual problems as a lot of sexual problems are caused because of mental reasons.

Psychotherapy shows similar improvement as medications in some cases. Sometimes, psychotherapy treats better. In some cases, psychotherapy alone can’t be that effective. It all depends on the situation.

Is Psychotherapy Effective?

When the question is about the effectiveness of psychotherapy, the answer is obviously positive. Psychotherapy is commonly used to treat mental and behavioral issues. Many types of research have been done to find out the effectiveness of psychotherapy.

According to the studies, it has been seen that about 75 percent of people who have received psychotherapy have experienced improvements in their daily life. The number of symptoms was fewer after going through psychotherapy compared to the before psychotherapy situation. It has changed the negative thoughts and feelings which have brought changes in their behaviors. The whole chain of change has resulted in positive changes physically and mentally.

To find out the changes in the brain after psychotherapy is taken, a brain imaging technique was used. According to a lot of studies, in cases of people suffering from mental illness, the imaging technique has shown positive changes in the brain after going through psychotherapy. In maximum cases, the change was not less than the change caused by medicines.

As psychotherapy helps people to be aware of their feelings, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, the impact of it remains for a long time even after the treatment schedule is over. In fact, some changes are permanent and those protect the patient from relapse. Multiple types of research have found that the effectiveness of psychotherapy remains longer than medications.

The positive changes in the body and mind result in a better lifestyle, few sick days, improved stability, and better focus on what they do. That’s what we expect from psychotherapy. So, we can tell that psychotherapy is effective in many ways.

However, to make psychotherapy most effective, it needs to be run under some conditions. The very first condition is- there should be a healthy and friendly connection between the therapist and the patients. It helps the patient to be more expressive and the therapist to know the patient better.

Also, an effective plan should be designed and followed to make sure that the patient can be benefited the most out of it. Designing it is the responsibility of the therapist, but the patient should be open enough to discuss everything so that the therapist can design the best plan.

Another factor that influences the effectiveness of psychotherapy is the degree of participation. The patient should be actively participating in the sessions to make the therapy effective. Active and fluent participation and communication make the output a thousand times better than what is expected when the patient doesn’t participate properly.

Besides these common factors that make psychotherapy effective, there are also some other factors that have contributed to its effectiveness. Overall speaking, if you want an effective outcome from psychotherapy, you should spend some time to find a qualified therapist and participate actively in the sessions.

Benefits of Psychotherapy

To improve the mental condition and get rid of mental disorders, psychotherapy is one of the best choices.

There are a lot of ways in which psychotherapy benefits the patients. From start to end, psychotherapy provides endless benefits to the patients. Let’s have a look at some of the common benefits of psychotherapy.

1. Psychotherapy provides a place to talk out everything. The therapist ensures a non-judgemental and friendly environment in which it becomes easier for a person to talk. The patients can talk about everything without being worried about losing privacy or being judged. This is a great mental relief.

2. Psychotherapy improves overall health. Even when the patients are going through an approach that focuses only on their psychological state, still they can see physical improvement. Stress causes some physical issues too. When they talk out the stress, they become mentally as well as physically relieved.

3. It helps to improve relationships. Many approaches of psychotherapy include family counseling and marriage counseling as important parts of the treatment. It helps to strengthen the weak bonds and rebuild the relationship by talking about the issues that are bothering other members of the family.

4. You’ll find support for any situation from psychotherapy. The therapists are always ready to help you to get out of the situation and find mental peace. Even if you only need someone to hear you, the therapists are there. Stress, trauma, distance in relationships, or anything- no matter what the situation is, you’ll find support from psychotherapists.

5. Talking to psychotherapists helps people to express the insecurities they have about themselves. The therapists help to work with the insecurities and get those out of mind. People learn to enjoy things and small victories and achievements they have. Thus, confusions and insecurities about themselves have been swept away.

6. Psychotherapy helps people to get rid of the negative thought and emotions inside them. This ensures mental relief. The relief from negative thoughts and feelings turns into greater serenity and happiness later.

Again, when there are no negative thoughts and feelings in mind, their response towards things happening around them is calmer and better. It helps them to see things easily. As a result, the consequences are also enjoyable.

7. Psychotherapy helps people to identify the triggers that lead to negative events and consequences. As a result, they can easily ignore those to keep things positive and better. Thus, peace of mind is achieved.

8. Through erasing negative thoughts, making them mentally sound and strong, psychotherapy helps people to feel themselves worthy. This improves self-reliance and makes them able to be responsible for their emotions and actions.

9. When people develop a better physical and mental condition, they become more focused on what they do. They give proper attention and manage things in a better way. Thus, by improving physical and mental situations, psychotherapy helps people to be more focused in their professional life.

10. Psychotherapy helps people to learn life skills that help them in day-to-day life. Life skills make people smarter to handle negative and difficult situations that happen often. Thus, psychotherapy supports improving abilities and confidence. Also, it aids in developing self-dependence.

11. Psychotherapy is directly focused to remove or reducing mental disorders. So, it helps people get rid of mental disorders or at least gain a certain form of stability. Also, it reduces or removes the dependency on drugs, alcohol, or other harmful substances.

There is no doubt that psychotherapy is a tool that helps people in many ways. It is not always about recovery from any mental illness. Even if there is not any mental issue, still psychotherapy can help us to improve. For leading a happier and better life, psychotherapy is a great tool.

How Much does Psychotherapy Cost?

Treating mental health issues are often tough for many people because of the cost of it. Psychotherapy costs a lot and many people can’t afford it. However, the government has taken many necessary steps to make mental health treatment affordable for all.

As a result of this, you’ll find psychotherapies around you that come within an affordable budget range.

Typically you’ll find psychotherapies costing you around $60-$250 per session. In most of the areas, for a standard counseling session, you’ll have to spend around $100-$200 per session. Depending on the therapy, the cost per session varies.

This is still a giant amount for a lot of people. There are a lot of explanations behind this much cost. Studying psychotherapy costs a ton of money. Also, therapists have to pay for insurance too. This is called liability insurance and it helps them when a client files a case against them.

The setting of the counseling room is costly. But the environment is necessary for the clients to talk. So, setting up it and maintaining regularly costs a good amount.

Again, therapists work on your case not only during the sessions but also after you leave the chamber. So, they’re spending much more time for you to ensure your wellbeing. It is seen that within a 40-hour workweek, therapists can attend sessions only for 25-27 hours. They spend the rest working on your information and situation.

There are a lot of things that affect the cost of psychotherapy. But don’t worry. Here we’re going to talk about a few ways to cut the cost of therapy.

Online Therapy

Online therapy is a good way to cut the cost of therapy. It is almost as effective as offline therapy. So, you can use this to keep the cost low. Online therapy sessions are around 30-50 USD per session. As it doesn’t require a cozily decorated environment, the cost is pretty low.

Ask for a Discount

If you can’t afford a therapist, you can ask for a slight discount. Therapists can offer a discount because they are not there only for money. They can extend their helping hand towards some patients if it is possible for them. So, try asking for a discount.

Look for Someone with a Sliding Scale

Some therapists use a sliding scale while discussing the payment. A sliding scale can help you to get some cut in the cost of therapy as you can trade off some factors. Look for the therapists who use a sliding scale. Typically, you’ll get the information on their websites.

Therapy Practices

Therapy practices, agencies, or firms offer lower fees compared to individual therapists. So, you can go for those. Also, you may find there psychotherapy interns. They often charge lower than professionals. Find a therapy agency or firm around you and check their rates. You’ll find it within your budget.

Federally-Funded Health Centers

As mental health issues are being prioritized nowadays, Federally-Funded Health Centers often come with mental health resources. You can get your mental health therapy from there. They often use a sliding scale which can help you to get therapy within your budget.

Therapies from Schools and Universities

If you’re a student, you have a chance of getting free psychotherapy treatment from your school or university. Contact the medical center of your institution to know more information about it. Typically it is free for a certain time. This is not a permanent solution to mental health issues but can help you a lot.

Also, some schools or universities provide mental health support for free or within an affordable amount. Psychology students who want to be professionals practice there to obtain the experience and training hours they need.

Does Medicare Cover Psychotherapy

Medicare is a social insurance program by the US government that helps the people of the USA with health-related services. It is generally for the old people aged 65 or older.

Medicare program comes in four parts. Part A and B cover hospital and medical insurance where part C and D focus on flexibility and drugs.

Medicare Coverage for Psychotherapy

Each part of Medicare ensures partial or full coverage for psychotherapy. But to provide support in psychotherapy, a licensed doctor should make sure that it is necessary. Also, the treatment should be done in a facility that is licensed by the state and approved by Medicare.

Part A of Medicare supports if the person needs to be taken through an inpatient treatment program. Typically psychotherapy doesn’t need inpatient support. But in case it needs, it should be done in a psychiatric or general hospital.

On the other hand, if the person requires outpatient treatment that maximum psychotherapy cases need, part B of Medicare takes care of it. Also, the partial hospitalization program is handled by part B. The components that part B covers are the following-

• a screening
• psychiatric assessment
• individual and group psychotherapy
• family counseling sessions
• medication management
• prescribed drugs that meet the criteria

Part C involves everything that part A and B offer, maybe with some additions. But the treatment and other issues should be served by the providers who are within the list of Medicare.

Part D concentrates on covering the medications that the patient needs throughout the therapy sessions.

However, to get backed by Medicare, the patient needs to fulfill some criteria.

Coverage Exclusions

Medicare coverage for psychotherapy covers almost all the modules of it or maximum. However, there are some costs that are not backed by Medicare. These are-

• Transportation expenses for therapies
• Out-of-pocket costs
• Costs of support groups etc.

How Long does Psychotherapy Last?

The answer to this question is not something specific. The length needed for psychotherapy depends on the type of therapy, how much help the patient needs, how quickly the patient improves, and many other issues.

Here, we’re going to talk about a typical length of psychotherapy- session, and process both. That’ll help you to get an idea.

Duration of Psychotherapy Sessions

A typical psychotherapy session takes around 60 to 90 minutes.

In previous times, a session was of 50 minutes and the therapist could take 10 minutes to preview the session. It was helpful for the therapists who want to attend to more patients to earn more. But it is true that sometimes less than 50 minutes is enough.

Nowadays, the scenario has been changed and therapists are looking for spending more time with the patients. These days, therapists allocate around 75 minutes for each session and 15 minutes for evaluating it. This is a perfect 90-minute structure.

Duration of Psychotherapy Program

Depending on the method being used and the problem being treated, the length of the process may vary.

Psychotherapy sessions take place once a week or two weeks. Depending on that, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy takes around two and a half to three months. On the other hand, Dialectical Behavior Therapy takes around six months.

Similarly, the time needed for therapy varies in other types of approaches.

So, you can see that, there is no fixed duration of the process. Depending on the improvement of the patient, the therapists tell when it is time to finish.

However, if you’re open enough to discuss everything frankly and accept the viewpoints that the therapists suggest, you can expect that the therapy would be completed within 6 months.

Who Can Provide Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy can be provided by a few types of professionals. While seeking psychotherapy, it is necessary to know who can provide psychotherapy sessions. Let’s have a look at the types of professionals who have legal permission to provide psychotherapy.

Psychiatrists

Psychiatrists are medical school graduate medical doctors who have studied psychiatry. They study how to diagnose, treat, and prevent mental illness. After being graduate, they attend residential programs to complete the requirement.

Sometimes, you’ll find board-certified psychiatrists who have gone through written and oral assessments after finishing medical school and residency programs.

Psychiatrists may not offer therapy sessions but suggest treatments and refer therapists. They have the ability to suggest medications if needed.

Psychotherapists

Psychologists also require a university degree and after that at least two years of supervised practice to start individual practice. There are typically two types of psychotherapists depending on the type of study.

Ph.D. psychologists study psychology to be graduated, but they focus more on research, study, and experiments. On the other hand, PsyD psychotherapists go through a similar type of program, but with less emphasis on research and experiment.

Psychologists offer therapy sessions. But they typically don’t have the authority of prescribing medications. For this, they need to go through training.

Counselors

Counselors are those who complete 2-3 years of graduation on counseling methods. They can’t prescribe medications. Typical areas of specialty are substance abuse counseling, school counseling, community counseling, family and marriage counseling, etc.

In some states, counselors should achieve licenses from the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC). Getting the license gives them the title National Certified Counselor.

Licenced Clinical Social Workers (LCSW) or Other Social Workers

Social workers also have the authority to provide psychotherapy. But for that, they have to go through training and internships.

Typically Licensed Clinical Social Workers need to go through a two-year graduate training and one year of supervised internship and in-field experience.

Other social workers might need a Master’s degree in social work. Also, a supervised internship is mandatory.

Advanced Psychiatric Nurses

At least a Master’s or higher degree is needed to be an advanced psychiatric nurse. It is because they have to work as nurse practitioners or clinical nurse specialists. They might work in several facilities including private clinics, hospitals, mental health treatment centers, substance abuse treatment centers, etc.

Advanced Psychiatric Nurses can diagnose the disorders and provide psychotherapy. In some places, they have the power to recommend medications.

How to get the most out of psychotherapy?

The effectiveness of psychotherapy depends on a lot of factors. Obviously, the therapists are the ones who have the responsibility to ensure effective psychotherapy. But the patients also have some responsibilities if they want to get the most out of the sessions.

Below are the things the patients should focus on for getting maximum benefits from psychotherapy.

1. The first thing is finding a good therapist. Spending some time searching for a good therapist always pays off. So, instead of going to a therapist beside your home, take some time to find out a therapist who is good.

2. Be comfortable with the therapist. If you’re not comfortable you should look for another therapist because you can describe your situation properly to someone with whom you’re not comfortable.

3. Be open and honest about your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and whatever your therapist wants to know. The therapists design and direct the sessions depending on whatever you share with them. Be honest about everything. This is a safe place to talk and nothing is going to be leaked. Also, the therapists don’t judge the clients. So, be open.

4. Share everything. The more the therapists will know, the more effective the sessions will be. So, share everything that the therapists want to know. Even if you think that something can help the treatment process, share it with them. Therapists are not going to judge you or leak your information to others. So, talk without any barrier.

5. Don’t think that therapy sessions will bring instant results. This is a long-term and slowly growing process. So, it’ll take time to fix the issues. Wait for a few sessions to start seeing improvement. Also, sometimes things are really tough to fix. Those will take time and patient. So, wait and keep believing in the therapist.

6. Don’t leave the treatment in the middle. Also, don’t skip the sessions. To maintain the progress, you should continue it. Sometimes, it’ll be easy to give up and leave instead of continuing the therapy, but don’t do that. This will ruin your progress. Also, you may face more trouble later.

Whenever you feel like leaving the treatment, talk to the therapist about it. They can help you to reduce or remove such thoughts from your mind. This can be done by making the process more interesting, or by talking about the problems regarding this.

7. Do homework regularly. Don’t miss these. Psychotherapy use homework to help you understand the issues, know the ways to solve those, and learn how to adapt to things. Also, from the homework, the therapists know how you’re improving and how you should be treated. That’s why homework is important. Don’t miss it.

8. If you think that psychotherapy is not working, talk to the therapist. Try to mark your improvement for a few sessions, and if you think that it is not helping you to improve, discuss it with the therapist. The therapist will take the proper step to make it effective for you.

Few More Approaches of Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a wide area that includes a lot of theories, approaches, and studies. So, it is tough to talk about everything in a single article. I’ve already talked about some common approaches to psychotherapy, but there are many left.

Right now, I’m going to talk about a few more approaches of psychotherapy. Let’s start.

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)

Interpersonal Psychotherapy is an approach of psychotherapy that helps people by improving their interpersonal function. Instead of focusing on childhood and development stage experiences, it focuses on current situations and relationships to help the clients.

IPT has four main focus areas. These are-

• Conflicts in existing relationships
• Struggles in starting and continuing a new relationship
• Current events that have changed the life
• Grief and loss

IPT is a psychotherapy approach that is structured and time-limited. Typically, the treatment process lasts for 12-16 weeks. The therapist and the client should maintain a strong relationship where both are active and communicative. Also, the therapist must be supportive of the client.

IPT is mainly used to treat depression. Also, mood disorders, bulimia nervosa, chronic fatigue, and anxiety are treated to some extent using this approach.

It is an effective approach for people of all ages. With medications, it is a great approach. Without medication, still this is a decent approach to achieve the treatment goals.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is an approach of psychotherapy that focuses on removing trauma by adding sensorimotor processing with emotional and cognitive processing. In this approach, sensorimotor activations are the main focus.

The therapists who use this approach focus on removing the effects of trauma on the body. It later helps the mind and emotion to heal and get rid of the trauma. The main principle of this approach is to heal the broken connection between body and mind which was happened from a traumatic experience.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy has three phases. 

• In the first phase, the therapist focuses on identifying the broken or frozen physical and mental connections. After these are identified, the second stage starts.

• In the second phase, the therapist helps the clients to explore the traumatic memories and incomplete responses to the situations. This is a painful stage for the clients, but the therapist grows a sympathetic and deep connection with them to make the situation a bit less painful.

• The last phase is reintegration where the clients are healed. But to strengthen the newly restored connections, the therapist helps them to practice physical exercises, mental improvement techniques, and mindfulness.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is a combined study of Neuroscience research, cognitive methods of psychotherapy, and attachment theory.

It can help people with a lot of different types of issues. Some of those are given below-

• Anxiety
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Panic Disorder
• Alcohol or Drug Addiction
• Relationship Issues
• Anger Management
• Depression
• Family Issues

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is mainly used for issues caused by traumatic experiences. So, the therapist should be very careful and aware while treating using this method. Wrong moves can result in an unexpected negative impact on the clients.

Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP)

Functional Analytic Psychotherapy is a behavioral approach of helping people by identifying and analyzing their behavioral issues and working on those collectively to shape those into positive behaviors that can help to reach their goals.

In this process, the clients are asked to define their goals and issues that are not letting them achieve those goals. Also, the therapists may ask for their understanding and assumptions about themselves.

From this discussion, the therapists identify the issues that are preventing them from reaching the goal and the things that have kept them stuck. Then together the therapist and the client work on the negative issues to turn those into positive ones.

The core principles of FAP are-

• Focus on NOW and HERE– FAP asks to focus on and discuss present time, not the past. There is no need to discuss past experiences, or even the last week.

• Practice New Patterns- Through the influence of friendly and deep relationships with the clients, the therapists help them to practice new patterns of behaviors. The relationship is very important here. It is mandatory for the clients to be comfortable and easy with the therapist so that they can express and discuss everything about themselves. There is no other option except being open.

• Courage, Awareness, and Love- The relationship between the therapist and the client should contain the courage to talk about everything, be aware of what is going to happen, and be full of love.

FAP directly focuses on the problems of daily life. Analyzing those problems and finding out the ways of solving those in the therapy room helps the patients to face those outside the room.

Thus, continuous analysis of issues, behaviors, and events, and improvement depending on the results helps to get rid of the issues.

Psychotherapy for Depression

Depression is a feeling of sadness that affects the way people feel, think, and act. This is a serious mental illness that can result in suicide. So, this should be treated with proper care and approach.

Depression is treatable through medications and psychotherapy. Though psychotherapy is the most effective way of treating depression and ensuring long-term peace of mind, adding medication to it is more effective.

How does Psychotherapy Treat Depression?

1. Psychotherapy helps the patient to learn the reasons, emotions, feelings, and unconscious behaviors that cause depression.

2. It identifies the problems behind depression and aids the patients to solve the problems or reduce the impacts of those.

3. It teaches coping skills that help to handle the situation or reason behind depression.

4. It teaches problem-solving skills so that the problems and issues which create depression can be faced and solved with mental strength.

5. It assists the patients to regain their control over life.

6. It helps them to learn to celebrate small achievements to bring joy and peace in mind.

Psychotherapy Theories towards Treating Depression

Several different theories of psychotherapy can be used to treat depression. Let’s know about the most common approaches to treating it.

Behavioral Therapy

As behavioral therapy focuses on the behavioral issues, while treating depression, it targets to change the behavior during the depression. That’s why it uses behavioral activation.

Behavioral activation refers to engaging the patients in something that they enjoy. When people do things they enjoy and find pleasure, they become more engaged with those. Thus depressive thoughts are removed.

Behavioral activation also focuses on setting daily or weekly goals and rewarding for the progress.

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy for depression focuses on the thoughts that are the reason behind it. Typically when people only see the negative of something, they become depressed.

Cognitive therapy helps to change thoughts by helping the patients to see the positive sides of everything.

There are some common thought patterns called cognitive distortions which lead to negative thinking. The therapists help the patient to identify the patterns and avoid those. Also, they help to learn positive thinking. Thus, negative thoughts which create depression are removed and mood is improved.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a combination of cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy. It focuses on both the thinking patterns and behaviors that are the reasons for depression.

CBT for depression includes a lot of homework that the patients have to do on their thinking patterns and behaviors. Also, it includes working with several worksheets which help them to understand their thought patterns and behaviors correctly.

CBT is one of the most efficient approaches to handling depression. It has a long-lasting impact on the thinking and behavior patterns of the patients. So, relapse is not very common when someone is treated using CBT.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical behavior therapy for depression follows a different approach to treating depression. After helping the patients to find out the thoughts and behaviors that create depression, it asks them to accept those.

By validating the negative thoughts and behaviors, people can easily deal with those and reduce stress caused by those. BDT suggests the patients to be mindful, accept things that happen, and learn how to cope with those.

DBT includes teaching skills that help them to handle such situations. As a result, the patients can accept the facts and go ahead leaving depressive thoughts.

Psychodynamic Theory

According to psychodynamic theory, depression is caused by unsolved issues and conflicts. It focuses on helping the patients to understand their emotions, identify the emotions that cause trouble, bear those, and utilize those in a positive way.

It is directed to build the self-awareness and emotional capacities of the patients. Thus, it is more person-focused instead of being problem-focused. So, it comes with a longer-term benefit.

Interpersonal Therapy

Interpersonal therapy sees poor social support and interpersonal conflict as one of the major reasons for depression. So, it focuses on talking about the important people in life and how the relationship with them should affect them.

It focuses on developing communication and relationship with people around and thus solves conflicts. It teaches communication skills and the ways of using those skills to build strong social support to reduce depression.

Psychotherapy for Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is the mental state where the person feels delusions and hallucinations. In this state, the patients can’t talk in an organized way. Also, they feel a lack of motivation and face trouble thinking about something.

There is no treatment that can fully cure schizophrenia. But there are ways to improve the situation as much as possible. While medication is considered to be an effective treatment for schizophrenia, psychotherapy is another effective one.

How does Psychotherapy Treat Schizophrenia?

1. Psychotherapy helps the patients to understand the issues and symptoms related to schizophrenia and learn how to cope with those effects.

2. It teaches the patients the skills that can help them to live better.

3. It focuses on removing and reducing the issues like insecurities, the feeling of being isolated, the fear of not being able to cope with the situations, etc.

4. It helps the patients to have a focus on their life and relationships.

5. It teaches how to communicate with people so that the patients don’t face any difficulties in social and professional life.

Psychotherapy Theories towards Treating Schizophrenia

Different types of psychotherapy can help reduce schizophrenia symptoms, improve the situation and continue maintaining life with a lower impact caused by schizophrenia. Some of the common psychotherapeutic approaches to treating schizophrenia are given below.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy for schizophrenia works to find out the symptoms and learn how to cope with those symptoms. CBT for schizophrenia doesn’t look for curing it because it is not possible.

Instead of focusing on curing, CBT works with building the person’s capability of dealing with it. It makes sure that the person can manage schizophrenia in an effective way and faceless the distress caused by it. That’s why CBT for schizophrenia is a bit different from regular CBT approaches.

Also, it sets some treatment and daily life goals and helps the person to achieve those.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a type of therapy that uses acceptance as a coping strategy for negative situations. It focuses on enhancing mindfulness.

ACT helps the patients to understand the symptoms of schizophrenia and change their attitude towards those. Thus it diverts the experience of facing the symptoms. As a result, the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors towards the symptoms become changed.

Thus, instead of trying to remove the issues and symptoms which cause the problem, ACT for schizophrenia tries to help the patients to accept those. Doing this changes the problems the patients face.

Cognitive Enhancement Therapy 

Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET) mainly focuses on improving the cognitive ability of the patients so that they can deal with the symptoms in a better way and get less affected by those.

Developing social and emotional cognition is an important part of this therapy. Improving cognitive mechanisms helps the patients to deal with delusions effectively. Researches have found that CET helps a lot to deal with schizophrenia.

To deal with schizophrenia, CET uses several worksheets and activities which helps to improve the ability to deal with the issues and symptoms in better ways.

Group Therapy

This is another way of treating schizophrenia effectively.

Talking to different people in the group helps to develop social and communication skills, improve relationships with people, and grow in professional life. Also, group therapies help people to stick to the treatment process.

While spending time with groups, patients won’t feel isolated. Also, having quality time with groups keeps the mind cheerful. As a result, the issues and symptoms can’t affect much.

Family Therapy

Family therapy can help to fight schizophrenia effectively. It teaches the family members to understand the problem, the symptoms, and how to help the patients to deal with those. Also, as family members are the closest people of the patient, they can help to find the most effective ways to deal with the symptoms.

As a result, when the issues arise, the patients are not alone to fight those. Family members can help them with the situation. Also, help from family members reduces stress and the patients don’t feel alone and isolated.

These are the common and effective approaches to treating schizophrenia with psychotherapy. Obviously, medications ensure better and faster improvement.

Centers for Psychotherapy

Choices Psychotherapy

Choices Psychotherapy is a place that believes that everyone has a choice no matter what happens. People there help the clients to find out the right choice for themselves and go ahead and grow on that choice.

With an experience of almost 30 years, Choices Psychotherapy provides support in getting rid of a lot of issues, including substance abuse, depression, anxiety, men’s and women’s issues, anger management, and so on.

Choices Psychotherapy team is a proper mix of experienced people as well as young blood. Together they can provide the exact care and guidance that the clients need. They have three different locations in Minnesota. Also, they provide Telehealth services.

Quince Orchard Psychotherapy

Intending to make the clients’ lives happier and more fulfilling, Quince Orchard Psychotherapy helps them to find out hope and reach the goal. The main focus of this place is to ensure a safe place where the clients can start the healing process.

The team of Quince Orchard Psychotherapy is a multi-specialty group which is consisted of psychologists, therapists, and psychiatric nurses. All of them have proper training and long experience in mental health and how to treat mental issues.

Starting from adolescents to adults, this place offers psychotherapy for all. They continue their operation from two different locations in Maryland. Besides physical visits, a Telehealth service is available.

Tidewater Psychotherapy

Tidewater Psychotherapy is a place that has been helping people from Virginia with mental health issues for almost 40 years. This place focuses on the strengths of the patients and helps them utilize those to live healthy and enjoyable life.

This place offers a holistic and evidence-based approach to helping clients. They offer individual therapy, group therapy, couple therapy, family therapy, cognitive therapy, medication management, and more services to heal the clients.

Tidewater Psychotherapy has a diverse team is consisted of psychiatrists, licensed clinical social workers, physicians, and nurse practitioners. They work together to achieve one goal- helping the clients to improve the quality of their lives.

Meridian Psychotherapy

Meridian Psychotherapy is a well-known and trusted psychotherapy center in Virginia. With a focus on helping people to heal, this place is providing psychotherapy for everyone, from adolescents to adults.

This place is home to a number of experienced and expert professionals who know what they should do and how to do this. So, you can expect one of the best and most effective approaches from them.

From the evaluation of mental state to treatment and medication management, this place does everything. Treatment for a lot of mental issues including- anxiety, depression, ADHD, job stress, mood disorder, trauma recovery, self-esteem issues, and so on is available here.

Portland Psychotherapy

Portland Psychotherapy is a dependable place in Oregon which is helping clients with mental health issues for a long time. They have a wide area of focus and they are specialized in each area. So, for effective psychotherapy service, this is a great place to go.

Team of Portland Psychotherapy comes with highly qualified and experienced professionals. Several professionals are also active researchers. So, this place offers the latest and best techniques used to treat the issues.

They treat a lot of mental issues with the help of different evidence-based treatment options. Starting from individual therapy, they have facilities for all formats of therapy. This is a single place where you’ll find almost everything.

Park Avenue Psychotherapy

Park Avenue Psychotherapy is a place in New York that helps the clients to start and boost up their journey towards a new and more productive life from a life full of mental issues. The clients find here the support and aid that they need to walk towards a healthy lifestyle.

This place focuses on a strength-based treatment process. They focus on the core strengths of the clients and use those to design and walk through the path towards recovery. The experienced and expert professionals here design the treatment process by a proper mix of psychotherapy traditions and strengths of the clients. Thus they provide effective treatment.

Besides physical therapy sessions, this place offers online therapy sessions for a number of issues that work with.

First Colonial Psychotherapy

First Colonial Psychotherapy is a place in Virginia known for being a warm and welcoming place for treating psychological issues. They focus on improving the situation of the clients through a caring and helpful experience.

This place offers treatment for a lot of mental issues including anger and stress issues, anxiety, trauma, depression, mood disorder, emotional issues, and so on. Multiple counseling and therapy sessions are used to treat the issues depending on the need of the clients.

This place has professional counselors and highly trained social workers. They are qualified in handling these issues. So, they can ensure effective and helpful treatment for mental health issues.

Kentlands Psychotherapy

If you’re looking for a psychotherapy provider in Montgomery County of Maryland, Kentlands Psychotherapy can be the place where you can go. This place offers psychotherapy for people of all ages, starting from children to adults. With a number of carefully designed consultation rooms, this place is a perfect one for psychotherapy.

Kentlands psychotherapy focuses on age-based issues that people face throughout the life. The therapists here help the clients to understand what they’re going through and how to cope with that. Also, they help with mental issues like trauma, anxiety, and similar.

The team of Kentlands Psychotherapy consists of psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists who are well aware of what they need to do. So, you can expect quality psychotherapy here.

Gulf Coast Psychotherapy

Looking for a psychotherapy place in Mississippi will bring you to Gulf Coast Psychotherapy, a place that offers psychotherapy at a reasonable price tag. With connections to some of the well-known psychotherapy centers, this place offers quality service using proven methods.

This place offers a lot of services including couples therapy, family therapy, marriage counseling, parenting issues, anger management, and such issues. Also, mental health issues like depression, mood disorder, anxiety, etc. are treated here. They also have treatment for substance abuse and drug and alcohol addictions.

The staff here are experienced and trained in different aspects of psychotherapy. They treat the clients properly with a friendly and empathetic approach. Also, this place has a cute therapeutic dog called Spencer.

Viewpoints Psychotherapy

Viewpoints Psychotherapy is now a part of LifeStance Health. So, if you’re looking for a psychotherapy facility in Colorado, look for LifeStance Health. This place focuses on improving physical health besides treating mental health. So, for overall improvement, this place is a must to go.

This place offers treatment for different mental conditions. Among those- bipolar disorder, bulimia nervosa, depression, stress, obsessive-compulsive disorder, ODD, etc. are most common. Also, they provide support for different life transition periods.

To make a healthy society, the staff of LifeStance Health is working consistently. This place comes with a great decoration with calming environment. So, if you or your loved one is suffering from mental issues, you can give this place a try.

Wild Tree Psychotherapy

Wild Tree Psychotherapy is a place for holistic approach-based psychotherapy for mental and other issues. This place assesses the individual needs and designs treatment focusing on those. As a result, the outcome of the treatment process goes in the favour of the clients in most cases.

Wild Tree Psychotherapy team comes with a number of experienced and expert psychotherapy experts who are always ready to support clients who are struggling with different issues. They help the clients to fight against the issues and grow better.

They have facilities to treat a lot of mental and behavioral issues. They are experts in treating addiction, trauma, and age-based therapies. A quality environment with quality service is what this place offers.

Silver Lake Psychotherapy

Silver Lake Psychotherapy is in California which is known for its non-judgemental and compassionate therapy sessions in a cozy environment that everyone loves. This place treats issues using proven and effective treatment processes and a friendly and helpful approach.

Starting from mental issues like anxiety, stress, bipolar disorder, and similar, this place offers help in other issues like marital issues, sexual issues, transgender issues, and others too. Everyone is welcome here to treat, no matter what the age, race, religion, class, gender, or sexual orientation is.

The team of Silver Lake Psychotherapy contains psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and consultants. Each of them focuses on ensuring the best and most effective treatment for the clients. They focus on building a close relationship of trust and empathy to make the treatment more effective.

Simply Thrive Psychotherapy

Simply Thrive Psychotherapy is a dependable psychotherapy center in Washington that ensures therapies with care and a friendly approach. This place helps people to use their inner strength to grow and thrive, just like the elements of nature.

This place focuses on helping people with age-based issues, family issues, marriage and couples issues, therapy for fast responders and military people. Though it doesn’t focus on mental health issues and addictions, the initial diagnosis of mental health issues is also done here.

The trained and experienced therapists here are always aware of the researches and findings in this field, especially in which they are specialized. So, you’ll find effective, latest, and proven treatment here that utilizes the psychotherapy tools efficiently.

Walnut Psychotherapy Center

Walnut Psychotherapy Center is a psychotherapy place in Philadelphia that is mainly focused on the mental health issues of people from the LGBTQ community. It uses the approach of affirming the identity to help people become mentally strong and deal with the issues they face in daily life.

It offers different formats of psychotherapy to help people thrive with their gender identification and affirmation. Individual therapy, group therapy, couples therapy, or family therapy- each is available here which is directed with great care.

This place is also a great psychotherapy Center for therapists. The qualified and experienced staff of Walnut Psychotherapy Centre is always ready to help the clients with their issues in a friendly and compassionate approach.

Waves Psychotherapy

Waves Psychotherapy in Virginia uses innovative and effective treatment approaches for treating problems of people of all ages, starting from adolescents to adults. This place is one of the most effective psychotherapy providers in the area.

With a team specialized in evidence-based and innovative treatment methods, Waves Psychotherapy offers effective treatment for different mental disorders, including trauma, anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other issues. You can knock them anytime for family therapy, couple therapy, or individual therapy sessions.

Waves Psychotherapy is a place where you can expect an empathetic and friendly approach to treating mental issues. The therapists here are trained, licensed, and experienced in helping people with issues that affect them.

Bleuler Psychotherapy

Bleuler Psychotherapy is a place in New York is a psychotherapy center that is working in this field with mental issues for more than 70 years. It is known for ensuring high-quality psychotherapy services at a reasonable cost.

Therapists here focus on result-oriented and individual-based treatment approaches to get the best out of the treatment for the clients. They know how to make the clients comfortable to talk so that they can bring out more information needed to design an effective treatment approach.

Bleuler Psychotherapy works with mental health disorders and substance abuse disorders. Using multiple formats and approaches, they bring out the whole treatment process effectively. With long experience working with mental health and substance abuse issues, this place provides dual diagnosis services too.

Calm Seas Psychotherapy

Calm Seas Psychotherapy is a solution-focused and supportive psychotherapy center situated in multiple locations in New York, Florida, and Alaska. It helps the clients to become strong to walk towards achieving positive goals.

This psychotherapy center offers treatment for mental health issues, problems in the transforming period, job stress, family and relationship issues, and so on. The treatment processes are designed and directed by experienced professionals.

It has a program called ‘Fit and Well’ for military persons and first responders who are facing troubles with trauma, addiction, or similar types of problems. This run-based program comes intending to keep people mentally fit and physically well.

Feeling Good Psychotherapy

Feeling Good Psychotherapy is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) based treatment center situated in multiple locations in New York. Ensuring treatment in a warm and friendly environment, it focuses on the long-term prevention of mental issues.

This place treats mental issues like depression, anxiety, relationship difficulties, procrastination, and similar issues. Besides treating, it also focuses on teaching skills that can help the clients to fight against relapse and ensure long-term freedom from these issues.

Here you’ll find regular and intensive team-based and individual psychotherapy sessions. This place treats adolescents, children, young adults, and adults and helps them to fight the issues. Through multiple therapy sessions, cognitive and behavioral changes are introduced for the overall well-being.

Fleurish Psychotherapy

In Georgia, Fleurish Psychotherapy is a dependable place for psychotherapy. Therapists here listen, understand, evaluate, and describe the situations and design ways so that the clients can get rid of those situations. Paths are different for different people. So, they focus on individual needs instead of going for a common solution.

Fleurish is a place that comes with several experienced and specialized psychotherapists with long experience. They provide individual, couple, and family therapy sessions to help clients in dealing with mental and relationship issues.

Some of the common issues treated here are anxiety, mood disorder, depression, grief, and similar. Also, this place provides support for relationship issues. It also helps people from the LGBTQ+ community. College and grad students can find support here too.

Fort Mill Psychotherapy

If you’re in South Carolina or North Caroline and need help with psychological issues, you can take help from Fort Mill Psychotherapy. This place is a dependable source of help to heal mental issues. It is a place where you can start your journey towards healing and peace.

Fort Mill Psychotherapy has a specialty in treating relationship issues, substance abuse disorders, and trauma. Also, it helps clients who are suffering from family problems or looking for holistic wellness.

With a small team of certified counselors, Fort Mill Psychotherapy offers sustainable and long-term healing. The processes are designed to focus on the individuals, exactly what they need. So, the effect is more effective and long-term.

Canino Psychotherapy

Canino Psychotherapy is a psychotherapy center with multiple convenient locations in New York. This place listens to the clients, creates paths, and carefully guides the clients through the path toward the mental peace and happiness that the clients were searching for.

Besides treating common mental issues like trauma, depression, and anxiety, this place offers treatment for substance abuse disorder, relationship issues, LGBT issues, behavioral issues, etc. Also, here you’ll find treatment for adolescent issues.

With a team of expert psychotherapists, this place offers perfect solutions to problems. Most of the members of the Canino Psychotherapy team have experience of more than 10 years. So, they ensure effective treatment programs with proper care. If you’re in New York and looking for a psychotherapy service, you can try this place.

Final Verdict

I hope this article has helped you to learn about psychotherapy. It is a vast area and it is not possible to cover everything within such a small article. You may need months or even years to dive deep inside psychotherapy.

This article was written to provide some understanding of psychotherapy and other related things. This is not enough if you’re interested in psychotherapy. But if you’re looking for psychotherapy, I think this will help you to have a better understanding of it. Thus, it’ll help you to find a good therapist, understand how things are going, and get the maximum out of it.

For a long time, psychotherapy was not considered as effective as medications. So, people were not interested in this. Also, mental health was not counted as important as physical health. This mindset also has a negative impact on the adaptation of psychotherapy.

But things have changed now. Many types of research have proven that psychotherapy is as effective as medications. In some cases, psychotherapy is better than medications. Also, now people have started realizing that mental health is as important as physical health. So, psychotherapy has started getting the attention it deserves.

Taking help- of psychotherapy is always encouraged, even if you don’t have mental disorders. Joining a few sessions and talking to the therapists reduces the stress and lifts the mood. So, feeling down or facing problems with life- no matter what the issue is, you can always contact a psychotherapist to talk.