Some people go to psychotherapy because they have felt sad or depressed , because of anxiety , because of thoughts that are difficult to control or experience intense and uncomfortable emotions . Others because they are going through a difficult time, such as a divorce, a loss of a loved one and others because they have time with a deficit, such as not being able to communicate properly, feeling unable to express their emotions, among other reasons.
Although the reasons are as varied as people in the world, we will try to answer the question when should I go to the psychologist.
When to go to therapy? Therapy may help you when:
- You have an overwhelming and prolonged feeling of helplessness and sadness.
- It seems that his problems are not solved despite his efforts and the help of family and friends.
- You have trouble concentrating on job tasks or other daily activities.
- You worry excessively, expect the worst, or are constantly nervous.
- Your actions, such as binge drinking, using drugs, or being aggressive, are hurting you or others.
How can I get the most out of psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is different from medical or dental treatments, in which the patient sits passively while professionals work with them and communicate their diagnoses and treatment plans. In psychotherapy the psychologist does not tell you what to do. It is an active collaboration between you and the psychologist.
In fact, an important part of the effectiveness of a therapy is the collaborative relationship between the psychologist and the patient , which is also known as a therapeutic alliance. In that sense, to make the most of the sessions, the following is recommended:
- Take an active part in psychotherapy.
- Help establish treatment goals.
- Work with the psychologist to create a goal calendar.
- Ask questions about your treatment plan.
- If you think that a certain session did not work as expected, express your opinion and have a dialogue so that the psychologist can respond and adapt your treatment more effectively.
- Ask the psychologist to recommend this website with useful about your problems.
- And since behavior change is difficult, practice is also vital. It is easy to slip back into old patterns of thought and behavior and you should be alert to this between sessions.
- Be attentive to your reaction to things, draw on what you have learned in sessions with the psychologist and apply them in those real life situations.
- Tell the psychologist what you have learned between sessions. They will take this information into account and incorporate it into what happens during the consultation to help you much more.
- Through regular practice of what you have worked in consultation, you will be able to consolidate your achievements, finish your psychotherapy treatment much earlier and maintain your progress once it is finished.
What is psychotherapy?
The psychologist can help you with these problems. Through psychotherapy, psychologists help people lead happier, healthier, and more productive lives.
In psychotherapy, psychologists apply scientifically valid procedures to create healthier and more effective habits. Psychotherapy has various methods such as cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and other types of talk therapy that help solve problems.
Psychotherapy is a collaborative treatment based on the relationship between a person and the psychologist. As its fundamental basis is dialogue, it provides a supportive environment that allows you to speak openly with someone who is objective, neutral, and impartial. You and the psychologist will work together to identify and change the patterns of thought and behavior that keep you from feeling good.
By the end of the treatment, you will not only have resolved the problem that brought you to the consultation, but you will also have learned new skills to more effectively face any challenges that may arise in the future.
What are the different types of psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy has many different methods. Psychologists generally take advantage of one or more methods. Each theoretical perspective acts as a roadmap for the psychologist to understand their clients and their problems and create solutions.
The type of treatment you will receive depends on a wide variety of factors: current psychological research, the theoretical orientation of the psychologist, and what is best suited to your situation.
The theoretical perspective of the psychologist will influence what happens in your practice. For example, psychologists who turn to cognitive behavioral therapy have a practical approach to treatment. The psychologist may ask you to perform certain tasks designed to help you build more effective coping skills. Often this method consists of assignments to do at home. In addition, the psychologist may ask you to gather more information, such as recording your reactions to a particular situation, as they occur. Or maybe you’ll put new skills to use between s
types of psychological therapy with which you will be you again
Deciding which is the most appropriate therapy for a patient is very important since, depending on the adaptation, the advances will be greater.
No person is the same as another, so each psychological therapy must be adapted to the client in a personalized way.
All psychological treatments, regardless of the different approaches, ultimately seek a common goal: to improve the well-being of patients, to ensure that life’s problems become challenges and not threats.
Each model of psychological therapy uses different techniques to adjust to the psychopathological disorders of patients, and can use specific methods adapted to the patient in question and the specific moment they are going through.
Behavioral therapy
This psychological therapy focuses its attention on the analysis of learned behaviors and their impact on people’s lives, helping to get rid of certain conditions to acquire more integrated and positive behaviors.
Part of the premise of the behaviors can be objectively treated, they work through techniques such as cessation , modeling, classical conditioning, etc.
Cognitive behavioral therapy
The key to the success of this type of psychological therapy is to focus your attention on working together with the patient in understanding and modifying their thought and behavior patterns.
It is heir to the previous one but takes into account the most cognitive or mental part of each person. That is, you take into account how you feel in each facet of therapy.
It starts from the idea that people are conditioned not only by objective external stimuli, but also by how we think about those stimuli.
The role of the psychologist is to reveal the mental schemas and conceptual meanings to the person. In this way, you will have an idea of how the patient is interpreting reality and what is the exact point from which to start making changes.
Thus, in cognitive-behavioral therapy, thought and behavior are closely related since they can be modified through this psychological intervention.
Humanistic therapies
The main objective is to achieve personal growth, self-realization, and maximize the potential of people, from a fully optimistic vision of psychotherapy.
For this, they bring together a great variety of techniques and therapeutic strategies, based on the approach proposed by C. Rogers.
Gestalt therapy
Gestal Therapy is encompassed within humanist therapies and starts from the idea that thoughts, sensations, emotions and behaviors form a whole, of the person, and therefore cannot be approached in isolation.
Specialists in individual psychological therapy
The purpose of individual therapy is to help you understand the way you behave, your emotions, and how the way you approach things (sometimes not entirely consciously) leads you to feel how you feel and act as you act. This allows you to free yourself from negative emotions and helps you improve your ability to make decisions. The end result, many times, is that you feel better about yourself.
Our treatments are based on the cognitive-behavioral approach, which is a form of psychological treatment that has much evidence of efficacy in scientific studies. This type of therapy is brief and is aimed at specific changes, which are agreed with the patient.
What is done in each session?
In the first session we try to understand the difficulties you are currently going through and we give you guidance on how we can move forward so that you feel better. If it is necessary to assess aspects of your personality or other psychological traits, we will discuss with you how we will plan this psychological evaluation.
After this first session, if necessary, a phase of in-depth exploration of your problem and your circumstances would begin and later we would help you better understand your discomfort and the most effective ways to cope with it.
How long does psychological therapy last?
Psychological treatments have a highly variable duration, as they are always adapted to the situation of each patient. An individual therapy for anxiety problems, for example, lasts between 8 and 15 sessions; for depressions, the duration may be somewhat longer, approaching 14 to 18 sessions. But we repeat, the duration depends a lot on each patient and the problem for which they consult.
At the beginning, it is convenient to carry out one session per week, although, as the patient improves, the sessions can be spaced every fortnight or monthly, depending on the case. The duration of each session is about 40 minutes. And it is very common that we recommend some tasks to perform outside of therapy (for example, writing down our thoughts in some moments of discomfort, practicing relaxation exercises, or others that are designed and adapted to each particular case).
