Natural Healing Treatment: Psychotherapy

Professional therapy

Psychotherapy involves exploring and seeking to resolve problems by talking to a professionally trained person who is skilled at helping people to find a way forward through their difficulties. There are many different forms and approaches in psychotherapy, and most involve the person having to delve into his or her inner thoughts and feelings in a process of self-discovery.

The psychotherapist guides the person through this process, helping the patient to bring problems to the surface so that they can be examined and resolved. In many cases, there may be deep-seated fears and problems that the patient has suppressed for many years. These may be the cause of the feelings and worries that the person is currently experiencing.

Sessions of treatment in psychotherapy may be on a short or long-term basis depending upon the nature of the patient's problems. Some forms of psychotherapy concentrate on resolving one particular problem with the patient following advice given by the therapist. Usually, these are shorter forms of therapy although it is not unusual for deeper problems to emerge that require further and more lengthy exploration.

In all forms of psychotherapy it is important that a good relationship of mutual trust and confidence is built up between patient and therapist. It may be necessary for the patient to consult more than one therapist in the first instance, to find the one with whom he or she feels most at ease.

Therapy involving discussion between therapist and client need not be organized by a doctor specializing in mental illness, and the client undergoing the therapy need not be mentally ill. He or she may just feel that there is something wrong with life and be seeking help, or someone who knows the person may well have recommended such a course of action. The person in charge of the therapy programme will not be a psychiatrist but a psychoanalyst or psychotherapist.

A word of warning is necessary here for anyone contemplating this kind of therapy. Psychiatrists are qualified doctors, usually attached to a hospital, and people are usually referred to them by a general practitioner. You can have confidence, therefore, in his or her training, even if you do not get on with the actual person. This is not the case, however, with all psychotherapists.

Many psychotherapists hold a suitable professional qualification, such as a degree in psychology, and some may even be medical doctors, but there is nothing to prevent anyone setting up in business without such qualifications. Some people would argue that it is the skills of the therapist, not the qualifications, that count, but it is as well to check up on the nature of these skills first.

Many general practitioners will be able to make a recommendation. Failing this, do try to get hold of a personal recommendation from someone who has previously attended, and been satisfied with the psychotherapist. An attempt has been made to set up a register for therapists, and you could probably obtain details of this from your local library. You must feel that you can trust the person to whom you are entrusting your mind.

To some extent the skills required by the psychotherapist are those required by the successful psychiatrist. For a start, they must have good listening skills and have the ability to get people to talk about themselves, without revealing any reaction of condemnation or shock. Both need skill in interpreting what they hear from the client.