Psychotherapy is a broad field that uses various approaches. It has four main types that also work differently. The specific type of therapy that works best for one person might not be the same as what works for another. Therapists typically use several approaches to help their clients.
The following are the primary types of psychotherapy that professionals use right now:
Table of Contents
Behavioral Therapy
Behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach based on the main principle that a person can learn all types of behaviors and harmful or unhealthy ones can be changed. The focus of this therapy is to explore the reasons behind a person’s development of abnormal and normal behaviors.
There are three approaches to behavioral therapy:
- Aversion therapy
Aversion therapy involves teaching someone to associate an unhealthy but desirable stimulant with an extremely unpleasant one. A person might associate drug or alcohol use with an unpleasant memory, for example.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
CBT focuses on changing a person’s beliefs or thoughts that cause problems with his/her actions and mood.
- Systematic desensitization
It helps people conquer phobias through different relaxation techniques.
Cognitive Therapy
Aaron T. Beck, an American psychiatrist, developed cognitive therapy. It focuses on what an individual thinks or known as cognition instead of what they do or their actions. This is based on the concept that dysfunctional or harmful thinking results in dysfunctional behaviors or emotions. It aims to change the person to change what they do and how they feel.
Humanistic Therapy
Humanistic therapy focuses on valuing the capacity of a person to make rational choices and hone their fullest potential. Its emphasis is the idea of concern and respect for others.
This form of psychotherapy is usually client-centered. It devalues the belief that therapists are the authorities over the inner experiences of their clients. Instead, it is more of a partnership where the therapist helps the client to change by emphasizing their care, interest, and concern.
Psychodynamic and Psychoanalysis Therapies
These therapies are meant to change problematic feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, by exploring their unconscious motivations and meanings. The approach works in a close partnership between the doctor and the patient.
Psychodynamic therapy evaluates the effect of life events, current and past relationships, and desires on the feelings of a person and their choices as a result. The doctor and the person work together to determine the compromises that the person made to stay protected from painful emotions or thoughts.
Sigmund Freud, the American neurologist, came up with the process known as psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis deals with revealing the unconscious roots of the symptoms of a person and helping them with the application of this understanding to their life. This process may be long-term or short-term.
Psychoanalysis may have a broader or narrower focus on a specific issue or symptom that a person experiences. This therapy also focuses on the interaction of the person with those around them. It allows the person to have a better understanding of their needs in a relationship, unhealthy and healthy ways of meeting these needs, and the things they can do to enhance their ability to communicate or express.