This text is for you, who are thinking about doing psychotherapy.
What is psychotherapy and psychological counseling?
Psychological monitoring is a collective name for various methods that are based on psychology as science. The best known is psychotherapy.
There are follow-ups for many different diagnoses and conditions. Among other things, there are methods directed to depression, anxiety, phobias and eating disorders.
There are also methods that can help those suffering from stress, insomnia, or even who want to quit smoking.
In psychotherapy there may be a combination of other treatments/processes: medication, physical activity or other lifestyle changes.
What is the purpose of follow-up?
The goal of psychotherapy and psychological counseling is to make the patient feel better.
Sometimes the person understands why he feels bad, sometimes he doesn’t.
What you feel can sometimes be related to thoughts, feelings, behaviors, relationships, and something that happened in the past. By doing psychotherapy, you can get help understanding yourself and your emotions.
Therapists may have different procedures.
Psychotherapy is a method in which the procedure is usually based on the dialogue between the patient and the psychotherapist. There are also other professionals who offer therapeutic functions in the health area, such as: Doctors, counselors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and nurses.
Different techniques and methods
There are many different techniques and methods in psychotherapy. These are the most common:
• CBT is an abbreviation for cognitive behavioral therapy. It is a follow-up that actively involves changing thoughts, feelings and behaviors that affect the patient in their daily life.
• PDT is an abbreviation for psychodynamic therapy. It is a method where the patient explores his past, to understand what is harming him now (current).
• TIP is an abbreviation for interpersonal therapy. It is a psychotherapeutic method that focuses on problems in the affective relationship.
• Group Therapy. Group therapies are follow-ups where participants have problems identical to their own.
It is important that the patient is able to choose the method that best suits their needs, always with the support of the psychotherapist.
What is recommended for other people may not be right for you. Therefore, it may be beneficial for the patient to know different forms of psychological support.
Read more about the different therapeutic processes later in the text.
Professional secret
All professionals who work as psychotherapists and provide psychological follow-up in the area of health have a duty of confidentiality.
This means that the technician you share with cannot reveal the patient information “given” to anyone else. In group therapy, all participants in the group must agree to maintain confidentiality.
When is follow-up required?
When a person feels mentally ill, symptoms can manifest themselves in many different ways.
For instance:
• Feeling empty or depression that does not disappear.
• Depression or anxiety.
• Difficulty trusting others.
• Addictive behaviors of both substances and other areas, such as games, shopping, aesthetics, etc.
• Stress, insomnia and lack of concentration.
• Obsessive-compulsive functioning, eating disorders or self-mutilation behaviors.
• Experience a serious event that caused a severe emotional crisis.
• Feeling bad without knowing why.
Sometimes, bodily symptoms such as fatigue, shoulder pain, stomach tightening, or back pain may also appear.
Difficulties in social relations
The person may have difficulty relating to others. For example, you may want to avoid intimate relationships or fall in love repeatedly with the same type of partner, even though you know in advance that it will go wrong.
It can be difficult to say no and have difficulty affirming your needs to others.
You may have low self-esteem.
By undergoing psychotherapy, the patient begins to understand himself and those around him best. This allows the patient to make better personal and professional choices in the future.
Coded quality of life
Avoid situations that cause you discomfort or fear of losing control.
Difficulty in feeling or dealing with emotions.
By doing psychotherapy, you can overcome these conditions that prevent you from feeling better.
People who have difficulty dealing with emotions can get help instead of continuing to avoid the problem.
Those who have difficulty dealing with strong or aggressive emotions can also be helped through psychological counseling.
How can I prepare?
The therapist can help you formulate a goal during the first few sessions. Ask the questions you need.
It’s important that you understand what you can expect from therapy.
Questions you can ask:
• How much will it cost?
• How long does each session last?
• How many times a week or monthly?
• What can I expect as results?
• What are the requirements for me as a patient? Can I talk to others about what I share in therapy? What effects can it have if you do?
What is required of yourself?
Engaging in therapy means that the patient wants to face thoughts, behaviors or feelings that can be difficult or unpleasant. During this process there may be some resistance on your part to speak and receive help.
Psychotherapy and psychological support are not just support. They can also be demanding. The patient needs to trust the therapist, even if it seems difficult at times. It may also be necessary to sometimes talk about things that seem strange to you.
Initially, some people may feel a little worse. This does not necessarily mean that the therapy is not working.
Patient motivation is very important and exponentially increases the chances of significant improvement.
The relationship with the therapist
It may seem unusual to open up to a stranger. You may doubt that you will ever feel better or that someone will be able to understand you. However, the more you insist on therapy, the more you can change.
It is important that the relationship with your therapist is only professional, that is, that it does not go beyond the sessions. It is the responsibility of the therapist to ensure that this continues, even after the end of the therapeutic relationship.
Try again if it doesn’t work.
It can work differently, talk to different people or psychotherapists. It also influences how you feel during different periods of your life. Sometimes it may take some time before it seems right to seek help.
If you’ve ever sought psychological support, but you don’t think it worked, don’t give up and be persistent. It didn’t work for the therapist, but it might work for someone else.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT
CBT is an abbreviation for cognitive behavioral therapy. CBT assumes that a person’s thoughts, behaviors and emotions are linked and can be influenced and altered. In CBT, the patient learns to change their thinking and behavior patterns.
The work is not done only in sessions. The patient should continue to use the techniques and do the exercises that are suggested by the therapist in his day-to-day.
The patient will begin to learn to deal better with anxiety and stress.
For example, through mindfulness relaxation exercises, or mindfulness calls.
Here are other common tasks a patient can do when entering CBT:
• Write down the thoughts that come to you in certain situations.
• Do things that you often avoided and made you uncomfortable.
• Dealing with difficult situations and relationships through paper.
• Use self-help tools or even online psychotherapy.
CBT in the short or long term
There are CBT processes that last for different periods of time. The duration of therapy depends greatly on the problems of each patient and the objectives they define. Few sessions may be necessary, as may be a long-term therapy, depending on the problem presented by the patient.
Developments in cbt
There are several forms of therapy that can be developed in CBT. Here are some of the most common:
Tac is an abbreviation for acceptance and commitment therapy. It is a form of therapy indicated for patients who have had problems with pain, addiction or anxiety for a long time. Instead of avoiding what is difficult for the patient, he will learn to deal with his difficulties.
Through a new approach, you can get help making new life choices. This is done, among other things, through mindfulness exercises.
TFC is an abbreviation for compassion-centered therapy. It is a type of therapy that can be beneficial for those who feel unwell due to the requirements they have in high performance, low self-esteem and stress.
TCD is an abbreviation for dialectical behavior therapy. It is a type of therapy specially designed to suffer from self-harm behaviors and emotionally unstable personality syndrome. This combines individual therapy, so-called group skills training and the opportunity for telephone contact between sessions. Skills are
Qualities or strategies that the patient can develop and train.
Examples of skills: establish ing boundaries, resolving conflicts, or solving a problem.
Psychotherapy focused on programming is another method developed in cbt. The method also contains other theoretical guidelines. Among other things, it is indicated for the patient with, for example, emotionally unstable personality syndrome, relationship problems.
TCC online
The patient can take advantage of cbt online. There are techniques that will help you deal with the difficulty of falling asleep, problems related to stress and depression.
You can schedule psychotherapeutic support wherever you want, however you want and whenever it is more convenient for you.
Psychodynamic therapy, PDT
PDT is an abbreviation for psychodynamic therapy. Psychodynamic therapies assume that the patient’s problems result from unresolved internal conflicts or psychological difficulties of which the patient is not always aware.
In PDT, the patient will learn to better understand himself and his relationships with others. You will also understand that your past experiences and memories may be affecting your life here and now. For example, there may be a pain or trauma that had never been identified before the psychotherapeutic process.
DPD generally does not follow a specific plan, but is mainly based on the exploration and investigation of the patient’s past and the factors that have influenced the way he processes things today.
Long and short treatments
Psychodynamic therapy can have a short or long duration. Short-term therapy usually focuses on a specific area or problem.
Long-term therapy can last for several years.
TPD developments
There are several different methods within The TPD that have been developed to treat specific diseases. One example is mentalization-based therapy. It has been specially developed for people with, for example, emotionally unstable personality syndrome.
Another example is psychodynamic psychotherapy focused on panic. It’s a form of therapy that follows a manual. The method was developed specifically for people with panic disorder.
Other forms of psychotherapy
In addition to CBT and PDT, there are other forms of psychotherapy.
Interpersonal Psychotherapy, TIP
Tip is an abbreviation for interpersonal psychotherapy. It is a type of therapy used primarily for depression, but has also been adapted for other types of diagnoses. Eating disorders, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders.
The TIP highlights how problems in human relationships contribute to mental illness. On the other hand, also how mental problems affect relationships with other people.
Group Therapy
In group therapy, he meets the therapist along with a group of people. We often have about eight people. It is common for other members of the group to have problems or experiences similar to yours.
The therapist has a guide role. He ensures that everyone who wants and needs to talk joins the conversation.
Systemic couples therapy and family therapy
The most common form of couples therapy and family therapy is called systems theory. According to this, a person’s problems are related to the family environment where they are inserted or with the partner. Then the couple or family is accompanied in a group. Sometimes two therapists can accompany a group.
This type of therapy has been shown to be particularly effective in relationship problems and mental health problems in children and adolescents. You can also work on problems related to alcohol addiction or domestic violence.
Trauma therapy
A person who feels very ill after traumatic events can seek help from crisis therapy or trauma therapy. During the sessions, the person should experiment and process what happened to them in a safe environment.
Therapy may be, for example, so-called cognitive behavioral therapy focused on trauma or desensitization and reprocessing of eye movement (EMDR).
If you feel you need help, feel free to contact us, any time:
DentalArt Medical Clinic
(Former Centro Medico da Rocha)
+351 932 237 198 / +351 282 041 932
Loja 8, Edifício Plaza Real, Estrada da Rocha, 8500-810 Portimão