“No thanks, I don’t believe in psychotherapy”, “come on, I will have a chat”, “I am not crazy to go to the psychotherapist”, “but can I solve everything in three, four sessions?”
These are just some of the many comments that I hear over and over again about psychotherapy and that make us understand the distorted vision that people have of it. For this reason I decided to write this short article to clarify some points and debunk false myths.
Psychotherapy is not “chatting”, it is not magic, nor a religious belief that leads you to ask yourself whether you believe in it or not, psychotherapy is a science that is based on studies and research that demonstrate its effectiveness. Therefore, it is a science in continuous evolution, which goes hand in hand with neuroscience and new discoveries in this field.
The real birth of psychotherapy comes at the end of the nineteenth century with Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis. Freud introduced the idea of the unconscious, childhood trauma and defence mechanisms, developing the method of free association to help people explore their hidden thoughts.
From there, psychotherapy has evolved into different approaches, the most common being the following:
– Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamics, which explore the unconscious and the past to understand the present.
– Cognitive-Behavioural (CBT), which works on thoughts and behaviours to modify them in a functional way.
– Gestalt, which values the “here and now” and awareness of lived experience.
– Transactional Analysis, which helps to understand internal and relational dynamics and internalised roles.
– Bioenergetics, which integrates body and emotions through movement and breathing.
– Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), which is especially effective for treating trauma thanks to the bilateral stimulation of the nervous system.
– Systemic-Relational, which works on family and couple dynamics.
Therefore, psychotherapy is a specialisation of clinical psychology that only psychologists and doctors qualified to practice have access to.
This means that psychotherapists follow a rigorous training that lasts about ten years and apply techniques validated by the scientific community.
In the session, the space is entirely dedicated to the person who tells his/her story, explores experiences and emotions, acquires tools to manage his/her difficulties and discover new perspectives. Depending on the orientation followed by the therapist, the work can focus on the analysis of the unconscious, on the modification of thoughts and behaviours, on personal growth or on relational dynamics.
Despite the various approaches, psychotherapy has a single goal: to help people live an “autonomous” life, that is, with awareness, spontaneity and authentic intimacy, through two main cornerstones, communication and the therapeutic relationship.
Therefore, in summary, psychotherapy consists of a treatment process aimed at helping people understand and resolve emotional, psychological and behavioural problems that persist over time.
We do not always have to have a major problem, feelings of having hit rock bottom to decide to start psychotherapy. Sometimes the reason to start it can be the desire to know ourselves better, explore ourselves, discover ourselves.
And that is why I like to think of psychotherapy as a journey of awareness and transformation, an opportunity to take care of yourself and build a deeper and more authentic well-being.