Psychotherapy and Mental Health

Psychotherapy (or just "therapy" for short) is the treatment of mental or emotional disturbances and disorders with the use of psychological methods, and employs a vast variety of techniques. Psychotherapy has  proven to be effective in treating:

 

• Depression

• Mood disorders

• Anxiety disorders

• Substance abuse

• Sexual disorders

• Personality disorders

• Sleep disorders

• Eating disorders

• Difficulties in developing intimate relationships

• Problems related to life circumstances and events:

  (ie: dealing with loss & grief, marital difficulties, abuse or

  traumatic events, dealing with aging parents or adolescent

  children, etc.)

 

During psychotherapy, the patient speaks to a licensened, trained mental health care professional, who then tries to help the patient identify and work through the factors that may be triggering their anxiety. 

 

There are many ways to go about psychotherapy, including:

  1. Individual - involving one-on-one work between the patient and the therapist

  2. Group - involving three or more patients. Group therapy offers patients the chance to share experiences and feelings while at the same time receive group support in coping with their particular issues.
  3. Family - involving a family group and the therapist - this allows the entire family to talk about how their dynamic may be being affected
  4. Marital/couples - involving spouses or significant others who want to improve their functioning as a couple, including communication, coping, etc.

How does psychotherapy help?
Psychotherapy helps people by:

 

  1. Bringing about an understanding of the behaviors, emotions, and/or ideas that may contribute to his or her state of depression.
  2. Identify and understand any life problems or events - such as major illness, a death in the family, lossing a job, or a divorce - that may contribute to their depression. This includes helping the patient understand which aspects of the problem they may be able to improve upon or solve.
  3. Helping regain a sense of control and pleasure in their life.
  4. Helping assist the patient in learning coping techniques and problem-solving skills.