Psychotherapy: 6 Stages To A New Life

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Psychotherapy is a word that is now familiar to everyone.

The relevance of psychotherapeutic assistance is growing every day. Many people know that when experiencing states of mental discomfort (despondency, depression, anxiety, disappointment, confusion, regret, etc.), you can seek psychotherapeutic help, because in translation from Greek "psychotherapy" means the healing of the soul.

However, perhaps not everyone knows what the process of psychotherapy consists of and what happens behind closed doors when a person is left alone with a specialist.

Ignorance breeds mistrust. To dispel this mistrust, I wrote this article in which I tried to highlight and describe the types, tasks, main stages of psychotherapy and their content.

So, there is clinical (medical) and psychological psychotherapy. Clinical psychotherapy is carried out by a psychotherapist, psychological psychotherapy is carried out by a psychologist who has a higher psychological education and additional education in a specific psychotherapeutic method.

Currently, there are several psychotherapeutic methods that differ significantly in the content and meaning of the provision of psychotherapeutic assistance. In this article I will talk about the psychoanalytic psychotherapy in which I work.

In short, psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a treatment with words. A person says everything that is important to him, everything that he thinks about and that worries him. The psychologist interprets his statements or asks clarifying questions. Thanks to this, a person begins to understand the reasons for his difficulties and failures, finds the hidden meaning of what is happening and creates further life according to his preferences and new opportunities and resources that were previously unavailable.

Tasks of psychoanalytic psychotherapy:

• the resolution of unconscious conflicts, which in a person's life are manifested in behavioral and emotional difficulties;
• improving relations with oneself and the world around him.

Thanks to non-judgmental interpretations, a reliable and benevolent attitude of a psychologist, a person changes his attitude to the problem and creates new ways to interact with the world.

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is effective for neuroses, depression, panic attacks, phobias, psychosomatic diseases, psychotic spectrum disorders.

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is:

• individual (when a person comes himself and solves his own problems);
• family (when several family members come, in this case their relationship becomes the focus of attention);
• short-term (up to 25 meetings);
• long-term (open end).

Meetings with a psychologist are called sessions. The psychologist conducts these sessions in his own office or via Skype.

The course of psychotherapeutic sessions can be divided into 6 main stages:

1. Search for a psychologist and make an appointment

This is a preliminary step. Officially, it is not included in the sequence of psychotherapeutic work, but I drew attention to it, because in fact, it is from this moment that psychotherapy, in fact, originates.

It is during this period that a person begins to form his expectations from work and hope for some results. During the choice of a psychologist, a positive transference is formed - this is the name of a person's trusting attitude towards the chosen specialist, since it is unlikely that someone will go to a specialist who causes distrust and antipathy. After a specialist is selected, they contact him and arrange a first meeting.

2. Formation of a request

Usually at the first meeting, the person talks about the problems that bother him. Someone designates them with two sentences, someone lacks the whole session - in different ways. After that, the psychologist and the client agree on what they will work together - form a request.

3. Establishing a setting or framework for psychotherapy

This stage involves the conclusion of an oral agreement on the conditions - the rules according to which the meetings will be held.

This is a very important stage. Any psychotherapy is carried out according to certain rules. Psychotherapy, like everything else in our world, is ordered and inscribed within certain boundaries. These rules are established by the creators of psychotherapy methods and are common to everyone: psychologists and clients. This is what regulates the psychologist's activity (he cannot go beyond these rules) and develops the client's responsibility for making a decision - to continue working according to such rules or to look for something less certain.

If a person confirms that he agrees with attending sessions on the conditions described by the specialist, then the contract is considered concluded and you can proceed to the next stage of work.

It is imperative to agree on the following conditions: the location of the sessions, the regularity (at least once a week), the duration of the sessions (50 minutes), the form and structure of work, cost, payment of passes without warning, force majeure, warning of vacations, confidentiality, last meeting, etc.

Such a joint work agreement creates community and unity between the psychologist and the person who came for help. This is the first product that they manage to create together.

4. Diagnostics

An obligatory stage of psychotherapeutic work, which can take several sessions. Many do not understand why it is necessary to talk in detail about their childhood, relationships with significant people, first childhood impressions, their stage-by-stage growing up, etc.

“It was a long time ago,” they say. "Now I am completely different and my problem is in the present."

Yes, it is - the person, of course, has changed a long time ago, and not a trace remained of the small child. But the problem with which the person asked for help somehow formed at a certain time. It was formed in the same way as a ball of thread is wound: at first it was invisible, then it became more and more. And this tangle reached such a large size that it became impossible for a person to cope with himself, and he was forced to seek help.

In order for a specialist to professionally and competently help in solving a problem, he needs to get acquainted with the life history of a person, his character traits, people and situations that left a mark on his life, and maybe even changed it. Many people do not notice how small accidents become patterns over time and then manifest themselves as character traits. They do not understand that these are not other people or circumstances, but that he himself creates such an unbearable life for himself.

If a person could analyze, understand and change his life himself, he would not need help. However, this is not the case, and competent psychotherapeutic assistance is possible only if the psychologist learns the history of life and the development of a person's problem from his lips, and does not think it out on his own.

5. Psychotherapy

The next stage is devoted directly to working on the problem. In the process of psychotherapy, additional questions may arise and arise that a person would like to find an answer to. The duration of psychotherapy depends on the client's request, on the occurrence of the problem (it has recently arisen or lasts for years), on the individual psychological and mental characteristics of a person, on the ability to make efforts, on the ability to fulfill the terms of the contract, on the qualifications of the psychotherapist, etc.

6. Last meeting - summing up

The time comes and psychotherapy comes to an end. The problem situation is resolved, something changes in life. In this case, it is advisable to sum up and talk about what the person gained through psychotherapy. How his relationship changed, what exactly happened, what new forms of behavior became possible for him, what he uses for this and how. Psychotherapy is a great opportunity to change your life for the better. It is important to understand these changes, to speak and comprehend, and not to leave unconscious.

The process of psychotherapy is a part of a person's life

This part becomes a bridge between two banks: the past life, which did not suit the person, and the future life, which the person dreams of.

When you don’t know the road and don’t see the prospects, it causes bewilderment and anxiety. The bridge seems vague and intimidating, and the person remains standing still.

If you know the step-by-step sequence of the path and there is an inner desire to cross to a new shore, then you can start this path with confidence.

After all, psychotherapy is just a part of a person's life, which has a beginning and an end.