Psychotherapy is a treatment for people with psychological or psychiatric disorders that consists of making the patient understand why he/she suffers from the disorder and helping him/her to alleviate his/her feelings of discomfort, distress and anxiety, with the aim of bringing him/her into harmony with himself/herself or with the group.
Unlike medical or surgical treatments, psychotherapy focuses on the patient’s symptom and what it implies and means for his daily life, such as what he is afraid of, what depresses him or what voices he hears. Medications are necessary in some cases, such as psychosis, and act as adjuvants to facilitate the healing process.
Within psychotherapy, there are several types of treatment, so the psychiatrist will always choose the most appropriate depending on the conditions of the patient to help correct their emotions, attitudes and behavior and thus meet their needs for recognition and affection.
Psychoanalysis therapy
Although each specialist tends to apply his particular method according to the psychological school he takes as a reference, psychoanalysis has the premise that past traumatic experiences are the cause of the patient’s internal conflicts. Thus, if this traumatic source is unearthed, it can be solved.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
This therapy also focuses on uncovering the traumatic roots of conflicts, but considers that the patient’s difficulties are not due to problems coming from outside, but to the patient’s perception of his immediate social environment and surroundings.
This is why cognitive-behavioral therapy aims to help the patient identify the causes and consequences of his behavior and change his perception in order to improve his mood and increase his social competence and self-confidence.
Group or family therapy
This therapy considers that the origin of the problem is in the patient’s relationship with his family or group, so both the specialist and the components attend to the patient’s reactions towards the other members with the aim of finding in the past the origins of these conflicts.
Once the origin has been found, an attempt is made to highlight the individual patient and to strengthen the bonds of the therapeutic group or family as a system.
Existential therapy
The latter aims to help the patient by opening up prospects for the future, i.e. by making him/her see new possibilities for satisfaction and personal growth.