Psychotherapy is defined as a therapeutic interactive process or treatment involving a trained professional and a patient or client. The client may be one person, a couple, a family or even a group. Within the scope of treatment, psychological problems are addressed, evaluated and tackled.
Its purpose is to help the client achieve their sense of well-being and accept themselves without reservations or guilt. An array of techniques may be employed to accomplish that including; dialog, relationship development, behavioral changes and communication. All techniques are designed and utilized to improve the client’s mental health or to improve the dynamics of the family or group relationships.
The Inclusion of Social Media Sites
Lately, social media sites have been successfully utilized in the process. In addition to providing a springboard for announcing and branding, they also provide an opportunity for professionals to connect and share experiences. There, professionals can share acquired knowledge from those experiences. To be sure, no personal information or case specifics are exchanged or provided. Simply exchanging the effectiveness of techniques being utilized can benefit the professional in his or her practice.
Many professionals have found Twitter to be very helpful in enhancing their professional life. There, professionals read each other professionals’ blogs, engage in public conversation with them, email them, have private exchanges with them or even Direct Message, DM, them.
The Vast Field Psychotherapy Encompasses
The long list of fields that psychotherapy practitioners specialize in is impressive and ever-expanding. It includes:
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychiatry
- Psychiatric or Clinical Social Work
- Counseling Psychology
- Rehabilitation Counseling
- Mental Health Counseling
- School Counseling
- Family and Marriage Counseling
- Drama Therapy
- Music Therapy
- Play Therapy
- Art Therapy
- Occupational Therapy
- many more
Depending on the jurisdiction, the various fields may be voluntarily or legally regulated or even unregulated. Requirements vary, but usually a graduate school degree and supervised clinical experience are necessary to open a practice.
Many Methods and Tools are Used in the Practice
While most psychotherapy involves spoken conversation, others may incorporate drama, the written word, narrative music or story or even artwork. When children and parents are involved, often role-play dramatization, game or toy play and drawing may be utilized. They usually include narratives along with those tools.
In addition to the aforementioned tools, there is a number of different systems that are utilized. It’s easy to see how wide the area can be with regards to specialization and individualized client care.
Psychotherapy systems include:
- Psychoanalytic
- Behavior Therapy
- Psychodynamic
- Cognitive Behavioral
- Humanistic
- Existential
- Systemic
- several more
With the world continually in turmoil and the vulnerability of the human psyche, it’s easy to see how and why so many forms of psychotherapy are necessary. Life is brief and can be painful. It is with the knowledge of that that keeps psychotherapy in the forefront of patient care and well-being. While the frontier has been opened up, there still remains much to be explored and discovered in the field.
