Psychotherapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Mental Health Treatment
Forced Hospitalization
When there is concern for a person’s safety, they can be hospitalized without court approval for two days. Relatives should be informed immediately. The course must renew the verdict. If the patient is ruled to be in a clear state of mind, they have the right to refuse treatment.
Patient Assessment and Treatment
Patient assessment and treatment should be started no later than 30 minutes from the time of arrival at a person’s health care institution.
Indications for Psychotherapy
- Attempted suicide or threat of such an act
- Acute psychosis
- Severe psychological trauma, disorganizing behavior
- Severe depression
Psychotherapy: Principles and Basic Schools
Psychotherapy is a scientific and practical area for mental and personality disorder treatment. Its goal is to improve biological and physiological function.
There are various schools of psychotherapy, each with its own principles and methods:
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychoanalytic Therapy
Psychoanalytic therapy focuses on traumatic experiences in childhood that are hidden between internal conflicts of the id, ego, and superego. Its aim is to reach the conflict and subconscious to make it conscious. Methods include dream interpretation and free association.
Behavioristic Therapy
Behavioristic therapy aims to change behavior to change emotion. Psychological difficulties are viewed as behavioral problems. Its aim is to isolate the problem and change the behavior. Methods include:
- Decreasing systematic sensitivity
- Declining behavior after removing the causing element
- Encouraging appropriate behavior
- Punishing inappropriate behavior
Cognitive Therapy
Cognitive therapy focuses on the key components of psychological disorders, such as irrational thoughts and distorted belief systems. It aims to change these thoughts and beliefs. Methods include:
- Identifying and challenging irrational thoughts
- Reframing events in a more positive way
- Focusing on real-time and future instead of past events
Humanistic Therapy
Existential Therapy
Existential therapy gives patients the opportunity to get familiar with and accept themselves, leading to authentic self-realization.
Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt therapy focuses on the present moment and asks questions such as”Who and how” and”What this means to me”
Interpersonal Therapy
Interpersonal therapy interprets and analyzes current interpersonal relationships rather than internal intra-psychic conflicts. Personal factors are indicated but not analyzed.
Relaxation Methods
Relaxation methods include autogenic training, muscle relaxation, and hypnosis. They aim to reduce stress and improve psychosomatic health.
Body-Oriented Therapy
Body-oriented therapy uses concentrated movement therapy and breathing exercises to help patients feel their bodies and improve their health status.
Psychosynthesis
Psychosynthesis is a therapeutic approach that emphasizes self-knowledge and the integration of all aspects of the personality.
The ‘I’
Through self-knowledge, we discover that we have many aspects, roles, and attitudes that we identify with. When we identify with one part of ourselves, we are ruled by it.
The Will
Self-knowledge, particularly when it leads to an awareness of our true center, is a step forward. Psychosynthesis recognizes that even deep and old complexes often persist due to years of unconscious repetition. Psychosynthesis sees the will as being basic to mental health.
The Superconscious
In rare moments, we may have an intuitive vision of the nature of the universe, an intense experience of a sense of unity with all beings, a profound understanding of the meaning of life, or an outpouring of creativity. These moments belong to what psychosynthesis calls the superconscious, the level of the unconscious that generates all that is highest and most meaningful for a human being.
Interpersonal Relationships
Interpersonal relationships play a significant role in our mental health and well-being.
Synthesis
There is an inherent tendency within organic matter to fluctuate and organize itself in a coherent manner. This can also be seen to operate within the individual; an innate propensity of the psyche to order itself and become a harmonious whole. When the various elements of our being are in conflict, our energy becomes blocked, and this causes pain. However, when a synthesis of two or more parts of our personality occurs, energy is freed, and we experience a sense of well-being. This is the essence of psychosynthesis: the harmonious integration of all our component parts around a unifying center.
The tendency towards synthesis is inherent within us. Rather than being an artificial imposition of techniques, psychosynthesis unblocks and stimulates a process that is more closely allied to us than any other: becoming who we are.