About what psychotherapy is, experts in this field can tell - scientists, due to whom science is progressing, and practicing psychiatrists, who are in any fairly large settlement. The layman often underestimates the importance of psychotherapy as a method and approach to healing. In Western countries, this is less common, but we have yet to improve people's awareness in this area. Let's try to figure out what we are talking about.
General information
Scientists, explaining what psychotherapy is, necessarily focus on the belonging of this discipline to therapeutic varieties aimed at the human psyche. The idea of the workflow is to influence a person through words. The broadest interpretation of the term is as follows: treatment, which is carried out through communication between a specialist and a client. Clinician, regardless of profile,entering into a dialogue with the patient, to some extent becomes a psychotherapist, since it affects the psyche of the person who applied.
Within the framework of psychotherapy, it is customary to consider the so-called optimal contacts. Explaining what psychotherapy is, scientists propose to interpret it as the science of building such an interaction. For the success of the process, it is necessary to form an individual approach to each patient, a special line of behavior, which would be based on the experience gained by the person. It is important to remember the specifics of the person in need. In work, a specialist must take into account the conditions of the person's social environment and the realities in which a person exists.
Goals and means to achieve them
Telling what psychotherapy is, experts characterize it as a type of treatment, the main goal of which is to eliminate the manifestations of the disease. Professionals working in this field seek to change the person's attitude towards themselves, other people, their own condition.
You can combine different approaches to working with a patient. Interaction with a psychiatrist, combined with medication, is allowed. Some patients, for greater effectiveness of the course, should engage in specially selected exercises, physical education practices. Sometimes occupational therapy is indicated. Psychotherapy is focused on working with the patient through communication, on a relatively mild effect on the person, but this does not mean that everything should be limited to verbal interaction only.
Working methods
There are sever althe main methods by which these goals can be achieved. There is rational - the most classical. A suggestive method is an influence, within the framework of which certain attitudes are suggested to a person in reality. This is done during hypnotic sleep. Some psychologists practice the method of autosuggestion, teaching a person to suggest something to himself on his own.
Narcopsychotherapy is a rather complicated approach to work with clients that requires special responsibility. Psychoaesthetic therapy is a relatively rarely used approach in practice. Collective - a variant of interaction in which a professional works immediately with a group of individuals. May involve family or people suffering from the same disorders or problems. Psychotherapy can be behavioral or in the form of a game. Sometimes the best option is to call on the patient's imagination. Then imagotherapy is shown.
Rational psychotherapy
This psychotherapy technique involves influencing the needy through clarification supported by logical arguments. The task of the psychotherapist is to explain and explain to the person, to tell him something that is not yet known to the patient, which is incomprehensible to him. Using available sources of information and his own logical possibilities, the doctor works with the patient in order to rid him of false positions and beliefs.
The rational approach involves not only direct influence through words, but also suggestion in indirect ways. There is an indirect positive effect of therapy, in particular, when a specialist inspires other people inthe presence of the needy information that the patient needs to learn. You can resort to the method of emotional influence and didactics as a means of mutual work. Mostly psychotherapy of this format is implemented as a dialogue between the patient and the doctor. The conversation is shaped by the doctor; its main task is to explain to the needy what provoked the disease, what are the prospects, what should be the treatment.
Features of rational psychotherapy
In clinical psychotherapy, a rational variant of working with a client is used if the doctor considers it promising to work with the patient through simple arguments. The task of a professional is to convey them concisely and clearly, avoiding discrepancies and ambiguities. The doctor must notice any changes in the patient's condition, even if they are very weak, and the progress is insignificant, and operate on them. Any factor by which it is likely to inspire the patient with the hope of getting rid of the disease should be used. The task of a professional is to inspire the needy, so that pessimism remains in the past.
The success of the implementation of the interaction is largely determined by the personality of the doctor responsible for working with the patient, the sincerity of the specialist. Good results are achievable only when the professional is sincerely interested in changing the patient's living conditions for the better. For the course to be effective, the doctor must gain confidence, become attractive to the client. His task is not only to convince the patient, but also to listen to him.
Suggestive psychotherapy
Term"suggestion" is usually used to denote the influence on the human psyche, the implementation of which is possible through the suggestion of desire, thought, disgust, rejection. Such psychotherapy is focused on conveying to the needy the provisions that he accepts without thinking about the information and without checking it for logic. Within the framework of interaction with a psychotherapist, information is assimilated without critical analysis. If we compare this approach with the one described above, we should take as the main difference the emphasis on the emotional impact as opposed to the rational one. The patient, who is being inspired by something, is passive, he does not think and only perceives the words of the doctor. Such therapy may involve suggestion to an awake person or work with a hypnotic sleeper. With this format of interaction, sessions are called hypnosuggestive.
Clinical psychotherapy of a suggestive format involves suggestion to a waking person. This is organized for an individual or a group of people in need. Success is determined by the listener's concentration on what the specialist said. It is advisable to work in a room that is as well isolated from any external noise as possible. The best effect is given by interaction in a semi-dark room. As practice has shown, the patient should lie or sit so that the posture is relaxed and does not distract from the words of the psychotherapist. The doctor speaks expressively, using an imperative intonation. Facial expressions, gestures, which are accompanied by replicas, also greatly affect the outcome of the course.
Features of suggestive psychotherapy
So that suggestive psychological psychotherapy givesAs a result, the doctor resorts to specialized suggestion formulas. These are as specific as possible in content, in terms of wording they are understandable, accessible to the listener. If it is supposed to work with a person who is addicted to alcohol, the suggestive influence includes suggestion: the patient completely quits alcohol, does not feel attraction to it. If done correctly, the result will be an aversion to alcohol, especially strong when attempting to consume such a product. Observations have shown that some even vomit, feel sick.
Autosuggestion is an important internal section of suggestive psychotherapy. It consists in the suggestion by a person to himself of certain thoughts and ideas. In this way, you can inspire feelings. To find out exactly what information to submit to yourself in this format, you must first consult with your doctor. The goal of the therapeutic course is to eliminate painful phenomena, to make the person strong-willed and confident in the successful outcome of the treatment.
Autosuggestion in detail
As studies conducted at various institutes of psychology and psychotherapy have shown, the most effective and practical way is autogenic training. It must be practiced weekly one to three times. A person in need of a psychotherapeutic course should work independently day after day outside of a medical consultation. At first, the main task of the patient is to master the formula chosen by the doctor for a particular course. Self-hypnosis is aimed at the formation of a specific physical sensation: for example,heaviness in the body. A person achieves maximum muscle relaxation. The state of relaxation makes work easier. As you successfully master the will, it is enough to concentrate on specific thoughts necessary for healing.
Hypnosuggestive treatment
This approach, studied and practiced within the framework of clinical psychology and psychotherapy, involves suggestion for therapeutic purposes, carried out during the period when the needy is in hypnotic sleep. Previously, the doctor explains to the person in the simplest possible words what the essence of the therapeutic program is. The main task of the opening speech is to eliminate fear and overcome the skepticism of the needy. Next, a session is started, formed by three successive steps. The patient is put to sleep, suggestion is carried out, then taken out of the hypnotized state. The duration of the entire session usually does not exceed 45 minutes, often only half an hour is enough. As part of the course of treatment, a dozen sessions are usually needed, less often - a dozen and a half.
Several different methods of putting to sleep have been developed. Hypnotic suggestion-oriented psychotherapy allows for more than just verbal interaction with the patient. The doctor can use monotonous factors that irritate the ear - a buzzer, a metronome, a recording of a surf or a drop. You can use tactile stimuli, evenly touch a person, stroke his skin. Passes are produced to help specialists. A long-known method is fixing a person's gaze on a shiny object. Suggestion allows you to put a person to sleep. The task of the doctor is to maintainrapport.
Practical subtleties of hypnosuggestive treatment
Hypnotic-oriented psychotherapy involves a workflow formed by three successive stages. First, doubt begins, that is, a step, when the muscles of the needy are relaxed, he is slightly dozing. You can get out of this stage on your own. Next comes hypotaxis. The term refers to the stage of complete muscle relaxation. Can cause catalepsy. The third step is somnambulism. This is the deepest state. A person does not feel external stimuli and fully fulfills what the doctor suggests. The effect of a therapeutic course is sometimes achievable already at the first or second stage, so it is not always necessary to induce somnambulism.
The formula, due to which the suggestion is made, is formed by convincing expressions. These should be created individually, taking into account the specific case. The content should be related to the measures that the patient needs to apply. The formula is spoken clearly, without raising your voice, in simple remarks, filled with meaning as much as possible. Phrases should follow each other with short pauses. Sometimes harsh expressions are needed, spoken in an imperative tone.
As part of the pre-hypnotic psychotherapy counseling, the doctor explains: the first session will be a source of well-being. Some patients feel cheerful and filled with optimism afterwards. Only later does the doctor engage in suggestion, the purpose of which is to cure a person. Dehypnotizationmost do not cause problems. The end of the session ends with the suggestion of the fact that after waking up the person will feel completely rested.
Working with a group
Sometimes psychotherapy is working with a group of patients. You can conduct hypnotic group sessions. It is recommended that when forming a group, include one or two people from the category of hypnotic. The phenomenon of imitation, mutual induction increase the ability of suggestibility.
A collective psychotherapeutic course involves the mutual influence of those in need on each other under the supervision of a specialist. Each session is held when the group gathers. The doctor works with patients, team members correct each other's behavior and thinking. Usually the team is made up of people who have previously received the help of a psychotherapist on an individual basis.
As is known from the basics of psychotherapy, collective sessions will be effective only if the doctor was able to create an atmosphere of mutual trust. All persons attending the class should be interested in healing and understand all their benefits from it. The success of the course depends on the correct formation of the group. It is necessary to include in it individuals of approximately the same age with a similar level of intellectual development. If possible, focus on people with similar interests. Sometimes they form large groups - up to three dozen people. Medium format - no more than 15 people, small group - within eight listeners. For some purposes, same-sex groups are optimal, sometimes mixed ones can be formed. Groupsare heterogeneous, homogeneous in terms of nosology. This means that people with different diseases can be included, or the problem should be the same for everyone.
Subtleties of working with a group
Usually in the course of training in psychotherapy, teachers emphasize the importance of the right selection of participants in communication. For the work to give a good result, among the listeners there must be those who are close to recovery. Their presence creates in other members of the team an understanding of the possibility of recovery and the desire for it. This selection of group members is called the formation of the prospect of an absolute cure.
The content of the classes is selected so that it corresponds to the tasks of the doctor. Within the group, the goals of the course must first be explained to the participants, then people should be activated through training and reeducation in order to achieve the desired lasting result.
There are certain categories of people for whom teamwork is most effective if they do something together. For example, you can attend events or work. This works particularly well when working with psychopaths or recovering alcoholics.
Family Treatment
This type of psychotherapy is a type of collective treatment, in which positive healing influence is aimed at improving relationships within the family. Often the need for it arises if interpersonal relationships are violated. The doctor helps to make them more positive or rebuildfundamentally. Often, the need for such therapy arises due to a neurotic disorder or in order to prevent it at a high risk of occurrence. Family therapy is resorted to if it is necessary to rehabilitate a person who has undergone psychosis, neurosis. The task of the doctor is to create the most positive atmosphere in life, at home, for a person who has overcome mental illness.
Narcopsychotherapy
Such a systemic psychotherapy involves a combined effect on the needy. The doctor establishes verbal contact and applies barbiturates. Medicines are injected into a vein. The main purpose of the drug component is to provide incomplete anesthesia. As preparations apply "Amital", "Pentotal". Hexenal is often used.
The specified combination is indicated if the patient's hypnotizability is low. Medicines give a state of euphoria, which is combined with stunnedness. A person under the influence of these means is suggestively available, that is, the effectiveness of the course becomes greater. A person who receives this kind of qualified help gains self-confidence.
In order for the treatment to give a good result, it is necessary to conduct sessions twice a week or more often. Within one course, 10-15 procedures are needed.
Behavior Therapy
Its alternative name is conditioned reflex. It is used as a method of working with adults and children. Psychotherapy involves inhibition with subsequent restructuring of conditioned connections that have been formed incorrectly. To do this, they resort to training, train a personnew behaviors. The therapeutic program involves the use of complex exercises, the task of which is to eliminate psychopathological failures. These can be, in particular, isolated fears. The therapist guides the patient as he learns to adapt himself to the trauma-initiating situation. First, training is carried out in artificial conditions, using films, records, transparencies, and a tape recorder. The task of the working group is to create a situation in which the person feels as if he is approaching the object of fear. With success, the situation is translated closer to reality, to the environment that previously caused the trauma of the psyche. Such treatment helps to restore the person's activity and defeat the manifestations of the disease.
Bodily Psychotherapy
This term is used to designate a specialized block of work of psychotherapists. The main idea that became the basis for the development of this method is the unity of the spiritual and the physical, the soma with the psyche. Any experience of a person, according to experts, is closely related to the physical state. Medicine has revealed that somatic pathologies occur against the background of psychological stress and stress. On the basis of such observations, the reverse influence was assumed - the ability to manipulate the psyche through work with the body. The doctor develops a set of exercises taking into account the needs of a particular patient. Muscle tension, massage, specific postures and movements - all these techniques allow you to stabilize your mental status and cope with the disease.
For the first time in practice, body psychotherapy was applied by Alexander inthe end of the nineteenth century. The actor sought to regain his voice. Over time, having achieved success, he began to teach changing posture, improving the ability to move in a coordinated manner, and also taught the plasticity of movements, helping clients to correct their habits. The concept of body psychology was formed at the beginning of the next century by Reich, one of the prominent figures in the sexual revolution. The main idea of the psychotherapeutic approach was to oppose the protective mechanism of the psyche of physical influence on the human body.
Today, this method of working is considered an effective way to expand one's own boundaries and improve opportunities, to structure the image of one's personality. The works of Feldenkrais, Rolf, Yanov are especially popular. Lowen's ideas presented in the works devoted to bioenergetics are attractive. He created a technique for self-expression and mobilization of bodily potential in order to increase the pleasure of life.
Practical points
When planning to start the appropriate treatment, you should first orient yourself in the construction of classes. Usually the session begins with the doctor's questions about the patient's life, his past and current, difficult moments that provoked his visit to the doctor. The doctor must take an active part so that the client feels that he is heard, listened to and understood. A good doctor is not one who gives too much advice, but allows a person to decide what changes a particular person needs.
Therapist discusses painful topics that are difficult for the client to work with, and explains whatcommunication cannot be easy. One of the important aspects of a successful course is the distinction between the atmosphere of communication with a professional and the severity of a traumatic topic.
