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Psychotherapy is a path to True Self
The easiest parallel can be drawn with symptomatic (counselling) and holistic treatment (psychotherapy). One or more counselling sessions can alleviate psychological distress by providing answers to some questions on how to deal with a problem and this may be enough.
Psychotherapy, on the other hand, works through the issue from many angles, there is enough time to refer to the client's history, memories and draw the necessary parallels. There is time not only to gain psychological insight, but also to apply it practically to life, to learn how to deal with it. Another important point is that during psychotherapy a special connection between the client and the therapist is built, and it is through this connection that very deep issues at the subconscious level can be worked through. This feature has been researched by scholars of the object relations school that came out of psychoanalysis and it has become another key point as to why psychotherapy works well.
How often?
Counselling sessions with a psychologist can be scheduled on a one-off basis at the client's request.
Psychotherapy happens on a regular basis (1-2 times a week) on a set schedule, the client knows they have time to themselves on a certain day and at a certain time. Duration - on average from 6 months to 2-3 years, everything is very individual and depends on many factors.
Who’s a psychiatrist?
A psychiatrist is a doctor who usually deals with severe mental disorders with the help of psychopharmacology, and inpatient or outpatient treatment is prescribed if necessary.
A competent psychologist and psychotherapist can make a referral to a psychiatrist at diagnostical sessions if they see such a need. Psychotherapy may take place in parallel with psychopharmacological treatment.
The psychiatrist is consulted once with the prescribed treatment, and a follow-up consultation is usually prescribed after a certain period of psychopharmacological medication.
As a psychologist, and as a client who has been for 6 years in individual therapy I would say the first point is that you have to "like" the psychologist**. You develop a sense of attachment and trust. This is the basis for building a "working alliance". If this is not present on the first few meetings or if there is something significant that makes you uncomfortable about the psychologist's personality, then despite all the professional laurels of the psychologist and the recommendations of satisfied friends, you should not start. Psychotherapy is about the relationship between the psychologist and the client and if they start already on distrustful beginnings, it is unlikely to be fruitful work. Moreover, after some time from the beginning of therapy (from 2-6 months) the relationship in therapy often worsens and this is normal. But if in the beginning there was trust and the psychologist is competent, this deterioration will be the basis for deepening the relationship and reaching a new level in psychotherapy, where the client understands himself and his mental processes even better. Without the initial trust and working alliance, such deterioration will put an end to therapy. The worst that can happen is that the client will then become discouraged with "all psychologists" and will not seek help again. (Read more on Why and How Psychotherapy Works)
**the exception is if you never trust anyone - then this will be one of the subjects for your therapy and it is better to go for a TFP psychotherapist
Of course, I can't leave out such important things like basic education. Not short month-long courses where a professional psychologist regularly upgrades his skills, but an alma mater in psychology or psychoanalysis.
Also a professional psychologist will have more than 200 hours of individual therapy, more than 300 hours of supervision and will continue to undergo supervision throughout the practice.
The first 2-5 meetings is a diagnostic interview where the psychotherapist assesses the client's level of psychological functioning. Thanks to the material obtained during the interview, the psychotherapist understands which method of psychotherapy would be best suited to treat a particular disorder or condition.
For some people light supportive psychotherapy will be appropriate, for others psychoanalytic psychotherapy or a variation of it in more severe cases - Transfer Focused Therapy (TFT), and in cases where there is an urgent need to relieve a symptom, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is most appropriate. Sometimes the client may be referred to a psychiatrist or offered psychotherapy along with psychopharmacological treatment prescribed by a psychiatrist.
Upon completion of the diagnostic interview the terms of the psychotherapy setting is mutially negotiated.
*Setting. The conditions of psychotherapy. The session lasts 50 minutes. The regularity of is set once or twice on weekly basis.
Based on my work experience and psychoanalytic education, I see the most valuable feature of psychotherapy precisely in the relationship between psychologist and client. In addition to the material that the client provides verbally, the psychologist works with non-verbal manifestations. Apart from gestures, facial expressions, voice tone and etc., non-verbal manifestations include the very relationship that naturally develops between two people. It gives a big clue to the psychoanalytic or TFP trained psychotherapist of how narrated material is manifested in client's life. The psychotherapist points out and interprets these observations. And the client gets the opportunity to build a healthy and true relationship, which probably might have never occurred to him before. This will become the needed experience to implement this "knowledge" into everyday life.
The psychologist sees his client in whole - he integrates both the strengths and difficulties of the personality in his vision. He sees the client in a way that perhaps no one has ever seen him before. And it is through this long-term "kind" attitude of the psychotherapist that a new perception of oneself is incorporated, i.e. sewn into the psyche. And this is the most valuable thing that therapy gives. Albeit analyzing childhood, events and drawing parallels with the present is helpful and is all present in therapy – but it stays on the level of rational thinking while building a relationship is the level of feelings. And the root change happens in the la.
