Tuesday, March 29, 2016

What One Needs To Know About Psychotherapy

By George King


People have problems related to their mental health and general well-being. Psychotherapy is a field of study devoted to the use of psychological techniques, particularly those based on regular personal interactions to assist people. The assistance is meant to help people overcome certain problems in their lives. Professionals who specialize in this field are called psychotherapists and they have helped many people to lead better lives in New Jersey.

Psychotherapists work to improve well-being and mental health in the society. They improve social relationships and functioning by mitigating troublesome thoughts, beliefs, emotions, behaviors, and compulsions. Some forms of psychotherapies are evidence-based, hence are recommended for certain diagnosed mental disorders. Those that are not evidence-based are often questioned.

Many types of psychotherapies have been invented over time. Currently, many named psychotherapies are being used. Some differ from each other slightly while others base on entirely different conceptions of psychology, methods, and ethics. Various psychotherapies combine more than one conception.

The term is derived from the Greek language where psyche means breath, soul, spirit while therapeia means healing or medical treatment. In the English dictionary, the term is defined as the use of psychological methods to treat disorders of personality or mind. A resolution regarding the effectiveness of this method of treatment was adopted by the American Psychological Association in 2012. Several psychotherapists agree on the definition given above as the standard one.

People who work as psychotherapists may or may not be professionals in mental health. Indeed, they may be professionals in other disciplines, but trained in a specific therapy. Some are not professionals at all. Some of the professionals who may work as psychotherapists include psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers. In the US, there are strict laws that regulate people who can work as psychotherapists and what they do.

Sessions with a therapist are usually done on a one-to-one basis, meaning that one therapist attends to one client. However, there are situations when the therapist may attend to a group of people, such as family members. Most sessions involve clients communicating personal information to the therapist. As such, the therapist is usually legally bound and expected to maintain the confidentiality of the patient. Depending on the jurisdiction, the term itself may or may not be protected under the law.

One of the major problems incurred in this field results from adherence. Adherence has come up as a major issue that needs to be fixed. Research has indicated that up to between 30% and 60% of all people that start therapy dropout before they complete it. The variance in the percentage of dropout is dependent on how the term termination or dropout is defined.

It has been observed that the dropout rate is more related with certain clinical and demographic characteristics of therapists, treatment interactions, and clients. The relevance and efficiency of therapy is being questioned because of high rate of dropout. The probability of a client completing the course is also related to the techniques that therapists employ in their work.




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