VERIFIED CONTENTAuthor: lek. Tomasz Nęcki

Psychotherapy is associated with the treatment of mental disorders, but in practice it can also be used by people who do not have diagnosed disorders in the field of psychiatry. Despite the fact that experts say that it is effective, many people do not believe that the therapy can help. In fact, psychotherapy can have a positive impact on the life of not only the patient, but also his relatives.

Psychotherapy: types

Psychotherapy is a very general term, as there are many types of therapy. Most often, patients benefit from individual psychotherapy, which can be conducted, among others, However, in the psychodynamic, psychoanalytical or cognitive-behavioral currents, couples therapy, family therapy and group therapy are also available. Mental he alth specialists have no doubts that psychotherapy can help patients solve their various problems. Many other people think otherwise.

Some people think it makes no sense to spend money just to talk to the right professional. In practice, however, psychotherapy is not based on talking about the weather - the dialogue is directed in such a way that the patient can notice certain problems, but also that he can understand them. Ultimately, the consequences of psychotherapy can be very different and some of them are often even surprising for patients.

Consequences of psychotherapy: better understanding of your own emotions

The reasons why the patient decides to use psychotherapy are different. Some people go for it because they are not coping well in their professional life, others decide to visit a therapist because of difficulties in returning to normal functioning after a failed relationship. In general, however, one of the goals of psychotherapy is the same, regardless of the reason why the patient decided to seek specialist support - it is the ability to better understand their own emotions.

Certain problems experienced by many people, such as feelings of guilt, increased tension or anxiety, and a sense of shame, can be the result of internal conflicts, many of which remain unaware. Therapy aims to help the patient identifysuch conflicts and teach him how to deal with them.

The key to controlling your emotions is understanding why you are tormented by such and not other feelings at a given moment. A simple example can be used here: a patient may have great difficulty attending his work because he feels underestimated by his superiors.

In practice, however, it may turn out that the bosses appreciate his work sufficiently, and the patient's feelings are caused by his low self-esteem and the related need to receive any praise as often as possible. Just realizing that this is the case may mean that the daily appearance at the workplace will not be as heavy a burden as it was before.

Psychotherapy and mental disorders

Quite often patients assume that when they need help, they can use the services of a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. The reality, however, is different and the best results are achieved when pharmacological treatment is combined with psychotherapy.

In the course of various mental disorders, there are problems that can be influenced by taking medications, such as depressed mood, decreased motivation or decreased drive, as is the case with psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations. However, other problems related to mental disorders cannot be solved with the use of pharmacotherapy alone.

We are talking here about a distorted image of your own body that occurs in the course of eating disorders or about low self-esteem and difficulties in relationships with other people, which may appear in the case of personality disorders. Ultimately, psychotherapy can definitely support the effects obtained with the use of pharmacological treatment and accelerate the recovery of patients with mental disorders.

Psychotherapy and increasing self-confidence

Lack of self-confidence has many reasons. In some people it is the result of parenting techniques used by parents, in others it is the result of repeated failures in emotional relationships or problems in peer relationships. People struggling with a lack of self-confidence can purchase various guides or attend motivational workshops, but psychotherapy can also help them.

The therapy helps to find the answer to the question why a given person lacks self-confidence. For example, when it is a consequence of certain parental mistakes, during therapy it is possible to take a closer look at the patterns instilled inpatient by caregivers and eventually correct them. Therapy allows the patient to find many of his benefits for himself, and eventually a person who was previously very insecure about himself may begin to appreciate himself.

Psychotherapy and its impact on the family environment

There is probably no need to convince anyone that family therapy may affect the functioning of the family system. It may be surprising, however, that the family of the person participating in individual therapy may also function better in the end.

The consequences of psychotherapy are noticeably noticeable. The patient who uses it successfully may become more aware of emotions and behaviors, and he may also learn more about how his actions affect the behavior of his loved ones.

Thanks to home therapy, quarrels may appear much less frequently, it may also lead to the fact that the person in therapy will be able to understand the partner to a greater extent or show understanding towards him. Parent's psychotherapy can also benefit his children: thanks to it, the guardian can understand where his excessive demands on children come from or let him know why he sometimes becomes so irritated with his offspring.

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Psychotherapy: why shouldn't you stop?

Psychotherapy is unfortunately not the same as with painkillers - its effects do not appear immediately after its implementation. Some time passes before the patient experiences permanent, beneficial changes - sometimes it is several months, sometimes even several years. It is impossible to clearly state here how long the therapy should last for it to bring results: it all depends on the exact problem with which the patient came to the therapist. Additionally, it is worth paying attention to one very important aspect: the therapy is not really easy at all.

During psychotherapy, the patient learns different things about himself - sometimes the information he gains insight into is not really easy to swallow. However, everything has a purpose, and you have to go through some difficult stages in order to finally truly understand yourself.

The therapist is there to help in surviving crisis moments in therapy - the situation in which he encourages the patient to stay in it does not necessarily mean that the specialist is afraid of losing the source of income. Internal resistance, which is a natural phenomenon in therapy and which results, inter alia, from withgaining insight into sometimes even difficult experiences and emotions. The therapy will bring results when various intra-mental conflicts are actually worked through - this is the main reason why it should not be terminated prematurely.

ExpertBow. Tomasz NęckiA graduate of medicine at the Medical University of Poznań. An admirer of the Polish sea (most willingly strolling along its shores with headphones in his ears), cats and books. In working with patients, he focuses on always listening to them and spending as much time as they need.Probe

Category:

Psychology