Psychology and psychotherapy

Concept of psychotherapy

• the term psychotherapy comes from the Greek: "psyche" = soul; "therapón" = servant, to serve
• psychotherapy uses medical sciences, psychological sciences and philosophy (ethics)
• psychotherapy is the treatment, prophylaxis (primary prevention) and rehabilitation (tertiary prevention) of health disorders
• psychotherapy takes place as a conscious, intentional, structured and scientifically based interaction between therapist and patient (therapeutic relationship)

General principles of psychotherapy

1. Means used: words, conversation, non-verbal behavior, eliciting emotions, creating a therapeutic relationship, suggestion, learning, group interaction
2. Acts on disease, disorder, anomaly
3. The goal is to alleviate problems and, if possible, eliminate their causes
4. There are changes in the patient's experience and behavior
5. Psychotherapy is performed by a qualified person

Means of psychotherapy

There are activities that we also encounter in everyday life. They become psychotherapeutic the moment they are used professionally to help another person.

• psychotherapeutic relationship
• arrangement of the situation in therapy
• imagination – spontaneous / intentional
• learning / exercises
• suggestion / hypnosis
• means: verbal (conversation, identification of symptoms), non-verbal (relaxation, imagination...)

Goals of psychotherapy

1. elimination of minor signs (symptoms)
2. resocialization, reorganization, restructuring, development of the patient's personality (personality is transformed)
3. adjustment of psychophysical conditions, elimination of symptoms, support in a crisis situation, help with adaptation to new conditions, behavior change, influence on social relationships, personality change

Deep psychotherapeutic directions

1) Psychoanalytic therapy (Freud)

• based on psychoanalysis (distinguishes consciousness, preconsciousness and unconsciousness)
• a very directive way of therapy
• instinctive tendencies are decisive for personality development and the emergence of neuroses
• basic drive – sexual (libido)
• neuroses arise from conflict: superego / id / ego
• places the greatest emphasis on childhood development
• neurosis is caused by repressed anxiety
• the psychoanalytic method is to reveal the repressed impulses, bring them to consciousness and bring them back under the control of the conscious self
  

2) Adlerian psychotherapy (Adler)

• for every human life, it is not the sexual drive that is decisive, but the life goal (the need to integrate into society, apply oneself and assert oneself)
• also places great importance on early childhood development
• the family situation is important (relationships between siblings...)
• feeling of inferiority = escape into illness p
• main principles – get to know the patient's life plan, lead the patient to change his lifestyle, give him courage

3) Jungian therapy (Jung) Jungovská terapie (Jung)

• divides people into introverts and extroverts
• uncovering unconscious complexes
• therapy consists in uncovering unconscious connections (unlike psychoanalysis, it is a friendly conversation)
• also uses dream interpretations and active imagination

Behavioral psychotherapy (Eysenck, Wolpe)

• behavioral disorders are learned responses
• if neurotic behavior is learned, it must be practiced and unlearned
• it is not a change of thinking that leads to the cure of neurosis, but a change of behavior
• has its roots in experimental psychology
• works with conditioned reflexes
• uses methods of training and negative training (unpleasant stimuli and punishments)
• it is criticized for trying to eliminate only the symptoms and not the underlying causes

Humanistic psychotherapy (Maslow)

• it underlines the uniqueness of each personality and leads to personal growth
• he tries to understand the inner experiences of the individual and teach him to work with these experiences
• helps people in their spiritual growth and realization of their own potential
• emphasis on immediacy and spontaneity

Literature used

Collective of authors, Translation: Jozef Hašto. Na problém orientovaná psychoterapia. Publisher: Vydavateľstvo F, 1994