What kind of psychotherapy should I choose? – Are there types of psychotherapy?
The first question one would ask when reading the title of the article, what psychotherapy to choose, is the expected one: Does psychotherapy have types or categories? The truth is that we all hear people every day mentioning that they are doing psychotherapy, but in reality it is delineated. At least, not in the way we think of it. And in a word, the answer to the question before is yes! Psychotherapy has categorizations. Perhaps you are one of those who have been successful with several psychologist ads on the internet. Others may be asking: Are you ready to do psychotherapy?
If you’re interested in psychotherapy, you might have clicked on some. But while they always but always list the word “psychologist” and that has its interpretations. Psychotherapy is a comprehensive process, but on the one hand not all psychologists undertake it, and on the other hand each person needs a different approach. The appropriate specialist is the psychologist-psychotherapist, especially one with experience in clinical psychology, but we will see this below. If, for example, you have a weakness in creating and maintaining relationships in your life, psychoanalysis might not be appropriate, but systemic psychotherapy would be. And now, you may understand why you need to read this article. Because quite simply, if you find your needs and weaknesses somewhere inside, it will be easier for you to seek out a specialist based on a specific type of psychotherapy. Believe me, it will be simple and understandable. Shall we go over everything?
Types of psychotherapy – What kind of psychotherapy to choose
- Psychoanalysis
This was started and established by Sigmund Freud, and later followed by others of the genre. It is the in-depth analytical approach and understanding of the individual starting from childhood and extending to the moment when he formed his character and personality. Commonly, to the present day. It explores how he grew up, how he was shaped by his parents, his ways and agents of influence and everything else that makes up his life.
It is ideal if a person in therapy is experiencing panic attacks, phobias, pessimistic tendencies, traumatic experiences. The therapist expresses himself freely; there need not be geometric progress or linear analysis. It is a process that starts from the past and therefore no association is required to what the person is concerned about. It takes years, there is no pressure.
Caution: it is not the same process as psychotherapy and wrongly the two concepts are usually confused and identified.
2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
One of the most well-known practices in psychotherapy. This type of cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on the triad of thoughts-emotions-behaviors. The person is thoughts, emotions and behaviors which he or she manifests after the first two have preceded. And cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy focuses on exactly that. In leading the person to “unlearn”, as we would say, what unfavorable beliefs they hold about various issues, to abandon limiting and negative beliefs, false and irrational. To banish dysfunctional thoughts while in the behavioral area, the goal is to direct them towards healthier behaviors. We are what we think, you could say.
Because it’s simple: First we think, so we believe in something, we have a constant, then we feel something about it, so we manifest and act. The goal is to correct thoughts and feelings (cognitive domain) on the one hand, and then to improve behaviours (behavioural domain). It was first introduced by Beck and much earlier the cognitive and behavioural domains were not combined, they were separated.
3. Existential psychotherapy
In this category of psychotherapy the absolute centre is the client. The psychotherapist develops – ideally – a two-way communication relationship with him, listens to him, usually does not intervene, but discusses with the aim of finding solutions to whatever the therapist is concerned about within himself. The goal is to connect and get to know his authentic self better, to remember his values, goals and ideals again and to find the path he wants to take. To understand his own behaviours, his relationships with others, how he enters into them, his behaviour, his existence as a whole and entity and his mistakes.
4. Systemic Psychotherapy
Here we have an important differentiation from the previous categories. Systemic psychotherapy focuses on the individual, but mainly in relation to the individuals in his family and at the same time the relationships with them and, conversely, the relationship between the family and himself. How he interacts with his parents, and how they interact with him, how they communicate, what are the family patterns, relationships, family dynamics and more. If the individual has a dysfunctional role in the family, or one member or even the family as a whole towards the individual, inevitably the whole family system is affected. It is also appropriate for couples.
5. Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
It is a special category of psychotherapy, which focuses exclusively on the inner psyche of the person. It studies and explores, always with the participation of the psychotherapist, the inner and subconscious emotions, hidden thoughts and what is rooted in the past. Experiences, perceptions, conflicts with himself. The individual through this form of psychotherapy must aim to understand his deeper self and to improve and change his inner system.
6. Person-centred psychotherapy
The most expected – perhaps – form of psychotherapy, since, as the title suggests, the centre of psychotherapy is placed at the centre of the patient. The psychotherapist is actively involved by asking questions to the client in order to draw a safe conclusion, while the goal of the client is to develop personally, improve himself and accomplish goals and dreams free of any heavy weights that hold him back. The psychotherapist’s responsibility and role is to encourage him, indirectly to stimulate his self-belief so that the therapist can begin to believe in himself and build self-esteem.
7. Gestalt therapy
It is a complex form of psychotherapy that first appeared post-war in the second half of the 19th century. It combines phenomenology, which is a form of German existential philosophy, philosophy and psychology, and aims to examine the individual as a whole and to develop the individual on all levels.
8. Synthetic psychotherapy
Somewhere here we complete the answer to the question of what kind of psychotherapy to choose, because synthetic psychotherapy, as the title suggests, is not a kind of psychotherapy, but a combination of treatments, as we have analysed above. Each person, and by extension each person in therapy, is an entity and a totality, but has different qualities, perceptions, beliefs, experiences, experiences and weaknesses. Consequently, and different demands. This is where the psychotherapist comes in, who through sessions forms a conclusion about the therapist in front of him, and depending on many factors and criteria, chooses the application of more than one form of psychotherapy that he considers optimal and suitable for the therapist. Usually, a combination of cognitive & existential psychotherapy with systemic is the one chosen.
