In psychotherapy, the psychotherapist attempts to increase the insight and the range of behavioral responses to increase functional ability and decrease symptoms.
Some of the Key Vocabulary:
Transferance: This is something that a patient feels towards the therapist because of past experiences. The theory of transferance implies that we are the sum of relationships and that all interactions are influenced by these relationships.
Example: a patient is afraid to go into surgery because he fears that the surgeon (like his father) is not sympathetic towards pain.
so, we use transferance in psychotherapy to understand past relationships in the context of present ones.
Countertransferance:
The doctor can also have his own issues… so countertransferance says that the therapist may have feelings towards the patient because of the experiences that the therpaist had.
Example:
Therapist who is bored with the patients complaints because it unconsciously is similar to the constant trivial complaining that she might hear from a relative.
ID, Ego, Superego:
So, we heard these words so many times already.
ID — what you want (drives, aggression, libido)
Ego –your logical and abstract thinking, verbal reasoning, and defense mechanism.
Superego— cant have what you want — moral conscience, internalize; is present in people by the age of 5 yrs.
Defense Mechanisms — so the ego (which includes defense mechanisms) is the mediator of the conflict between your desires (Id) and your moral conscience (superego).
Types of Psychotherapy:
-pscyhoanalysis
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-psychodynamic psychotherapy
-brief psychotherapy
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-cognitive psychotherapy
-behavioral psychoterapy
-for anyone but particularly low functioning patients:
-supportive psychothrapy
-group psychotherapy