Getting Help-Psychotherapy(Crash Course Psychology #35)- Summary

 Getting Help-Psychotherapy: Crash Course Psychology #35

Introduction: Types of Psychotherapy

• Psychotherapy is when a therapist uses a variety of strategies to assist a patient in overcoming difficulties and achieving personal growth.

• There are various techniques to psychotherapy, each with a distinct experience for the individual seeking help, and some are more suited to focussing on particular illnesses.

• Psychotherapy's purpose is to assist people like Bernice overcome problems such as anxiety and depression, as well as increase their self-worth and performance in life.

Psychodynamic Therapy 

• Psychodynamic therapy is based on Freud's psychoanalysis and focuses on helping people gain insight into the impact of unconscious internal forces and early relationships. 

• This type of therapy uses techniques such as free association and dream analysis to access repressed feelings and memories. 

• Psychodynamic therapy aims to promote self-awareness and understanding of unconscious themes that may be contributing to a person's issues. 

Existential-Humanist Therapy 

• Existential-humanistic therapy focuses on promoting growth, self-acceptance, and personal potential, rather than curing illness. 

• This approach emphasizes the present and future, rather than the past, and encourages individuals to take responsibility for their choices and actions. 

• Existential-humanistic therapists use techniques such as active listening and empathy to create a safe and non-judgmental environment for clients. 

Behavioral Therapy 

• Behavioral therapy aims to change problem behaviors through new learning and conditioning, rather than focusing on unconscious thoughts or feelings. 

• This approach uses techniques such as counter-conditioning, exposure, and systematic desensitization to help individuals modify their reactions and behaviors. 

• Behavioral therapy focuses on changing behavior to change emotions and moods, rather than exploring the underlying causes of the behavior. 

Cognitive Therapy 

• Cognitive therapy focuses on changing self-defeating thoughts to change related behavior, assuming that modifying thoughts can lead to changes in behavior.

• This approach teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and is used to treat specific fears, generalized anxiety disorder, and major depression. 

• Cognitive therapists use the Socratic questioning method to help clients reverse destructive beliefs about themselves, the world, or the future. 

Integrative Therapies 

• Cognitive and behavioral schools have joined forces, and cognitive-behavior therapies are typically considered a single school. 

• Many therapists use integrative approaches that combine elements from different schools of thought. 

Group and Family Therapy 

• Group therapy promotes curing benefits from interacting with other people, helping with social aspects of mental health and reminding clients they're not alone. 

• Family therapy treats a family as a system, viewing an individual's problem behaviors as influenced by or directed at other family members. 

• Family therapists work with multiple family members to heal relationships, improve insight and communication, and mobilize communal resources.