Psychotherapy 101 an Introduction to Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy 101 an Introduction to Psychotherapy This article attempts to introduce the basic ideas and tenants of psychotherapy. It starts by introducing the idea of the psychotherapist, their training the profession. It then goes on to introduce the Counselling & Psychotherapy psychotherapeutic relationship and some of its ideas. It ends by introducing some of the most common psychotherapy theories. The Psychotherapist: A psychotherapist is someone who provides psychotherapy to clients on a professional basis. This may be to individuals, couples, families or in a group setting. A psychotherapist may have other trainings or backgrounds. For example they may also be a doctor, social worker, mental health worker, nurse or counsellor. However when seeing a client for psychotherapy they will only have that role with the client and not be providing them with any other service. Psychotherapists will usually have had an intensive training which is generally between 4-8 years in length. This training will have involved a period of supervised practice as well as their own personal therapy. Many psychotherapists will then be members of a professional organisation such as the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). The Psychotherapeutic Relationship: The psychotherapist is responsible for creating a relationship where psychotherapeutic change can occur. This involves ensuring that the psychotherapy occurs in a private, comfortable and safe environment. They will offer to the client a certain level of confidentiality which ensures that the client feels confident that they can open up to the psychotherapist without their family friends, colleagues, or other professionals being informed about what they are discussing. The psychotherapist will also listen very carefully to the client and help them to identify their goals

and wishes for the work. It is this active listening and engagement by the psychotherapist that helps create the psychotherapeutic relationship. Psychotherapeutic Ideas: The way that the psychotherapist works with a client will depend upon their training and the theory that they use to help the client. In general psychotherapy is attempting to help the person live a more satisfying life by helping to: build the persons sense of their own esteem; resolve issues from their past that are affecting them in the present; them to have healthier relationships; and to gain perspective and skills to tackle their problems themselves.