Tanya Battiwalla
According
to the American Psychiatric Association (2019),‘Psychotherapy,
or talk therapy, is a way to help people with a broad variety of mental
illnesses and emotional difficulties.’ As mentioned in the book Abnormal
Psychology (2017), psychotherapy is designed in such a way that it not only
gives a person the opportunity to talk but also develops new understandings and
behaviors in the client. Psychotherapy is different from informally talking
things over with a relative or friends because psychotherapy is an intervention
that is deliberately planned and systematically guided by theoretical
principles. According to the American Psychological Association (2017), one of psychotherapy’s
aims is to help people find relief from emotional distress, for example when
they are anxious. It also intends to help find solutions to the problems in
people’s lives which can range from family issues to dealing with failure or
job dissatisfaction. The APA highlights another important function of
psychotherapy which is that it modifies the ways of thinking and acting that
were originally obstructing the client from having a healthy work life and
happy personal life.
Opting
for psychotherapy need not be a decision made only in the severest of
circumstances. People seek
psychotherapy if they have been feeling anxious, depressed or angry for a long
time. People go for psychotherapy to address short term problems as well, such
as- dealing with divorce, grieving someone’s death or because of other
stressful life circumstance. (American Psychological Association)
An important theme that will be addressed in this blog is the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Fredric Neuman (2013) argues that similar to other forms of medical treatment, psychotherapy cannot be measured only by outcome. To further explain his argument, he gives the example of most childhood illnesses being self-limited. When observed long-term, the children who were ill and got treatment and the children who were ill but got no treatment will not be distinguishable. Although, if treatment was provided to the second group, the children could have been relieved of their pain and discomfort. He says that the same goes with respect to psychotherapy. While Theo Tsaousides (2016) says that psychotherapy is ineffective and fails when patients are reduced to a diagnosis. He says that two people with the same diagnosis are not the same people and might have different biological and social conditions which should be taken into account. Therefore, which psychotherapy approach is being used is of great importance.
There are different psychosocial approaches to treatment that
are used all over the world. These are some of the approaches that are used in psychotherapy- behavior
therapy, cognitive and cognitive behavioral therapy, humanistic experiential
therapies, psychodynamic therapy.
Behavior therapy assumes that abnormal behaviour, like
normal behaviour, is acquired by learning. There are a variety of techniques
used in behavior therapy, some of them being- exposure therapy, aversion
therapy and systematic reinforcement therapy. Behavior
therapy has certain advantages; since it is a direct approach and concentrates
on specific systems it leads to reducing distress faster and hence is also
cheaper compared to other therapies. (Butcher, 2017)
Cognitive and cognitive behavioral therapy focus on the use
of cognitive and behaviour change therapy. It assumes that cognitive processes
influence emotion, motivation, and behaviour. It entails of Rational Emotive Behavior
therapy and Beck’s cognitive therapy. (Butcher, 2017) According to research
done by Hofmann (2012), CBT compared to other approaches is a lot more
effective for anxiety disorders, bulimia, personality disorders, and stress
management.
The humanistic experiential therapies focus mainly on
‘expanding a client’s awareness’. Therapists who choose this approach believe
that the client should take the responsibility for how the therapy session
moves forward, while the therapist is there to mostly guide and counsel. Some
of the approaches that come under this are- client centered therapy,
motivational interviewing and gestalt therapy. This approach to therapy has
been criticized for the vagueness regarding the content of the therapy session.
On the other hand, practitioners of humanistic therapy argue that it’s to avoid
‘reducing people to abstractions’ which could potentially reduce the client’s self-worth.
(Butcher, 2017)
In psychodynamic therapy, therapists focus on ‘individual
personality dynamics’ mostly through a psychoanalytic lens. This approach to
psychotherapy intends to address distortions or gaps in the client’s
belief of what the origin of their problem is. (Butcher,2017) Based on a study
done by Gaskin (2012), data shows that psychodynamic theory is effective in
treating anxiety and personality disorders. The study also shows that the
effectiveness of the psychodynamic approach in comparison to other approaches
is equivocal.
We can therefore conclude that certain psychotherapy approaches
are more effective than others for a given set of disorders. While psychotherapy
seems to be effective overall, it loses its effect and value when particular guidelines
are not followed and patients are reduced to a diagnosis.
Work Cited:
American Psychiatric Association (2017). What is Psychotherapy.
Butcher, James N. Abnormal Psychology (2017).
American Psychological Association (2019). What is Psychotherapy.
American Psychological Association (2019). Understanding Psychotherapy and How it Works.
https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/understanding-psychotherapy/
Neuman, Fredrick (2013). The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/fighting-fear/201306/the-effectiveness-psychotherapy
Tsaousides, Theo (2016). The Three Reasons Why Psychotherapy Fails.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/smashing-the-brainblocks/201603/the-3-reasons-why-psychotherapy-fails
Neuman, Fredrick (2013). The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/fighting-fear/201306/the-effectiveness-psychotherapy
Tsaousides, Theo (2016). The Three Reasons Why Psychotherapy Fails.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/smashing-the-brainblocks/201603/the-3-reasons-why-psychotherapy-fails
Hofmann, Stefan (2012).The Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Review of Meta-analyses/
Gaskin, Cadeyrn (2012). The Effectiveness of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy.
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