IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY:ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

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Clinical Psychology (PSY401)

LESSON 26

IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

INTRODUCTION

We live in a world that is increasingly complex, intense, and stressful. Most people, at some time or

other in their lives, can make good use of psychotherapy as they map their course and steer their way

through it.

Many people wonder if they should consider Psychotherapy. See what response you give to the issues

and situations below.

First is the aspirational list; meaning that there are areas in your personal and work life that you want to

improve. Some examples can be the following:

You sense that life could be more satisfying than it is. You want to feel better about yourself, less

stressed, more easily able to use your potential to reach the goals you set for yourself.

You want to feel more effective and comfortable in your relationships, to change non-productive

patterns with your partner or your children, parents, co-workers, or friends. You want to be better at

communicating and resolving conflicts.

Or it may be the case that you are already having problems in your daily functioning. Such as:

Life's stresses are getting you down, and you want to learn to cope with these stresses. or

You find yourself anxious or depressed, having difficulties at work or school, having trouble

concentrating or sleeping, fighting with your family, not taking care of yourself physically, or generally

suffer from bad mood under the weather.

These are some of the life experiences that lead people to seek psychotherapy. Perhaps some are

familiar to you, or perhaps you wondered for other reasons whether you might benefit from

psychotherapy.

Research shows that people can profit from psychotherapy they can learn, grow, and change at any

stage or age in life. It is never too soon and never too late. We will not go into the research detailing the

effectiveness of psychotherapy at this point.

WHAT IS PSYCHOTHERAPY? WHAT DOES IT OFFER?

Psychotherapy is a complex process that must vary with each client. It is not a set of simple

"technologies" or procedures. Doing it well requires a high degree of education and training and a well-

developed capacity for empathic listening.

All psychotherapy, furthermore, depends on the development of a safe, trusting, confidential

relationship between the client and the therapist. Most methods of psychotherapy aim at helping clients

change unproductive ways of thinking and behaving.

Psychotherapy is a process of discovery a learning process. In it, we can work together to discover

what events, situations, and relationships in your current life or earlier life are leaving you with

uncomfortable feelings or ways of dealing with your world that are not working as well as you want.

You work toward acquiring new, effective, helpful ways of understanding your experiences and the

events in your life, your responses to them, and the actions you take.

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Clinical Psychology (PSY401)

Thus your actions can become less automatic and more fully based on understanding and choice. Your

partner, your child or your entire family might participate in the processes of discovery, learning, and

change that are characteristic of psychotherapy.

PSYCHOTHERAPY IS AN UNFOLDING PROCESS

It begins by creating the private, confidential context in which it can do its job. The work that is actually

done depends on the needs and desires. In some cases the work is to uncover emotional experiences of

the past that are brought to the surface by current events, situations, and relationships, so that the present

circumstances can be understood and dealt with in a different way.

In the course of this exploring and re-understanding, painful or uncomfortable symptoms such as

persistent depressed feelings, fearfulness, or unwanted habits and thoughts often decrease in intensity

and frequency, Ways of responding and acting which have been ineffective can also be changed.

Psychotherapy looks at the whole human being and at the many complex factors that have contributed to

making every person unique. Symptoms such as anxiety or depression are viewed not just as a problem,

but also as a sign that something is hurting inside that some aspect of the person needs attention.

Psychotherapy assumes that there are parts of our lives of which we are not fully aware. Our feelings,

our day and night dreams, our thoughts, and our subtle reactions to people and events are often based

partially on hidden assumptions and on memories of earlier events. In these shadows of our daily lives

reside many of our old wounds as well as much of our untapped creative energy.

Psychotherapy affords an opportunity to uncover, explore, learn about, and appreciate our perceptions,

our hidden assumptions, the ways we have adapted to life-and how all these have evolved.

Psychotherapy takes place in the context of a solid, trustworthy working relationship between the client

and the therapist. It helps create the context, the insight, and under- standing, the vision, and the support

within which durable growth and desirable change can take place. Psychotherapy is not advice-giving. It

empowers the client to come to useful personal understanding, to make clearer choices, and to achieve

durable independence.

As we become more aware and more appreciative of what is inside us, we can resolve or come to terms

both with our internal conflicts and our reactions to people and external events; we feel in better

possession of ourselves and more able to make positive and life-affirming decisions. Creative energies

no longer need to be spent on keeping old troubles in control, and there is more energy for love, work

and play.

We can see past and present events and people more clearly, and come to know more about who we are

independent of other people's definitions. Some have referred to the psychotherapy experience as the

awakening of aspects of the inner self, which have been hidden.

Thus in the process of psychotherapy one can see beneath the surface and integrate intellectual

understanding with one's emotional experiences. The confidential psychotherapy sessions encourage

your thoughts and emotional experiences to flow freely. In this free-flowing process, a variety of

thoughts and feelings emerge; they create a window through which you can understand your inner

processes more directly.

You jointly examine these moment-to-moment experiences in a non-judgmental manner that provides

new under- standing about your experience of the world. The process gradually becomes a part of your

internal experience and goes with you after the therapy is completed.

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Psychotherapy can be a powerful and life changing experience. Awareness is the key that opens the

door from the stuck or trapped place that a person feels in to a life that embraces choice and

relationship. The less aware we are of our motives, feelings thoughts, actions, perceptions, the more

they control us and the more we stay stuck in old patterns that don't work anymore. Relief from

symptoms lies in discovering what our everyday reality is and how we meet and deal with that.

Psychotherapy does not translate well into sound bites. It is a broad discipline that holds several

approaches to dealing with anxieties and concerns to severe psychological breakdown. Symptoms that

are often brought to a Psychotherapist include Depression, Anxiety States, Bereavement, Relationship

Issues as well as all the other responses to modern life that for the time being simply don't work.

As we noted earlier, psychotherapy is not just advice giving or helping in an informal context.

Psychotherapy differs in two ways from the informal help or advice that one person may give another.

First, psychotherapy is conducted by a trained, certified, or licensed therapist. Secondly, treatment

methods in psychotherapy are guided by well-developed theories about the sources of personal

problems.

So we can Define Psychotherapy as the intentional application of psychological techniques for

obtaining pre-determined changes, like changes in behavior, reduction of psychological distress etc. It is

the treatment of emotional and /or related bodily problems by psychological means.

PROBLEMS TREATED WITH PSYCHOTHERAPY

Psychotherapy is an important form of treatment for many kinds of psychological problems.

Two of the most common problems for which people seek help from a therapist are depression and

persistent anxiety. People with depression may have low self-esteem, a sense of hopelessness about the

future, and a lack of interest in people and activities once found pleasurable.

People with anxiety disorders may feel anxious all the time or suffer from phobias, a fear of specific

objects or situations. Psychotherapy, by itself or in combination with drug treatment, can often help

people overcome or manage these problems.

People experiencing an emotional crisis due to marital problems, family disputes, problems at work,

loneliness, or troubled social relationships may also benefit from psychotherapy.

Other problems often treated with psychotherapy include:

obsessive-compulsive disorder,

Personality disorders,

Alcoholism and other forms of drug dependence,

Problems stemming from child abuse,

And behavioral problems, such as eating disorders and juvenile delinquency.

PSYCHOTHERAPY IS NOT SUITABLE FOR SEVERE ILLNESS

Mental health professionals do not rely on psychotherapy to treat schizophrenia, a severe mental illness.

Drugs are used to treat this disorder. However, some psychotherapeutic techniques may help people

with schizophrenia learn appropriate social skills and skills for managing anxiety.

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Another severe mental illness, bipolar disorder (popularly called manic depression), is treated with

drugs or a combination of drugs and psychotherapy.

THERE CAN ALSO BE SOME POSSIBLE UNWANTED EFFECTS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

(1) Patients may become excessively dependent on therapy or therapist.

(2) Intensive psychotherapy may be distressing to the patient and result in exacerbation of symptoms

and deterioration in relationships.

(3) Disorders for which physical treatments would be more appropriate may be missed.

(4) Ineffective psychotherapy wastes time money and damages patient's morale.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

In helping their clients, all therapists follow a code of ethics.

First, all therapy is confidential. Therapists notify others of a client's disclosures only in exceptional

cases, such as when children disclose abuse by parents, parents disclose abuse of children, or clients

disclose an intention to harm themselves or others.

Also, therapists avoid dual relationships with clients--that is, being friends outside of therapy or

maintaining a business relationship. Such relationships may reduce the therapist's objectivity and ability

to work with the client.

CONCLUSION

Mental health professionals agree that the effectiveness of therapy depends to a large extent on the

quality of the relationship between the client and therapist.

In general, the better the rapport is between therapist and client, the better the outcome of therapy.If a

person does not trust a therapist enough to describe deeply personal problems, the therapist will have

trouble helping the person change and improve. For clients, trusting that the therapist can provide help

for their problems is essential for making progress.

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