Don’t be afraid to try out psychotherapy!

Eddie Avila, Staff Writer|August 31, 2022

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Despite various opinions, psychotherapy is something positive for everyone

Many factors hold a lot of us back from trying out psychotherapy. Fiction and argots of irrational views of those that surround us daily, spouting that someone must harness serious problems to see a therapist or must suffer from some form of psychosis. It can be hard to see or understand that psychotherapy isn’t just for the select, disturbed, few, but that psychotherapy is open to everyone, that it’s completely normal to feel anxious and confused for many things that impact our lives.

Psychotherapy can be a greatly effective way to alleviate psychological pain and suffering. There are various ways and approaches in which psychotherapy can help in alleviating the thoughts and feelings that prevent us from being our peak selves. The four main types of psychotherapy are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Psychodynamic Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Humanistic/Experimental Therapy. Each uses a different approach, but with the help of a psychotherapist, each can help us in contextualize and rationalize our feeling and help us analyze ways to become better equipped to visualize and engage our own challenges and underlying feelings.

Psychotherapy is one of the most influential fields of psychology and has a deeply rooted history that can be dated back all the way to ninth century Middle East. There are four major fathers of psychotherapy whose influence majorly impacted the field.

1. Willhem Wundt was born August, 16, 1383, and is credited as the founder of experimental psychology as we know it, establishing the first known magazine and lab ever known to be based on experimental psychology. He began working with his former student, Edward Tischnurd, in helping promote his ideas of theories and was even a notorious philosopher for his time. The combination of psychology and philosophy solidified himself as an objective scientist and even developed the ideas of “introspection” which was and still is an important tool in psychology.

2. William James, born January 11, 1842, is also known for developing psychology. He wrote a lengthy book called The Principles of Psychology, sharing his ideas with physiology, religion, philosophy and psychology.

3. Sigmund Freud, who was born May 6, 1856, is considered the founding father of western psychotherapy. His theories stressed the absolute importance of unconscious forces or impression, the idea that people push down bad thoughts or temptation in order to keep themselves sane and, in the process, become unhappy.

4. Carl Rogers, born January 8, 1902, developed ideas that greatly advanced psycho-analysis, promoting the idea of the relationship between people and their importance through the health of individual. He implored that calm and accepting environment was the first step in successful therapy.

Psychotherapy has a lot of negative connotations associated with it, words such as crazy, unstable, weak, lazy, mentally ill, broken and situational terms such as crying, medicated, suicidal, and divorced. These are all harmful stereotypes that discourage people from pursuing therapy, even in situations that could require professional help. Good diet and an active lifestyle are positive ways towards physical health and, in a similar way, we all have to take responsibility for our mental health. Much like physical health, genetics and environment can impact mental health Pursuing psychotherapy is like working on one’s mental health. With the help of a professional, we are able to exercise our emotional and mental health to makes us stronger in the future and a psychotherapy professional can offer suggestions, using a variety tools such as parent and marriage therapy and career counseling.

Everyone wants to find a way to manage anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems and struggles. The mental health world is a vast and varied field so it can be easy and understandable to feel overwhelmed and anxious for there is a range of therapeutic approaches, but not all are for everyone. To help with getting familiar, here is a quick guide to four of the major therapeutic approaches that are commonly used and widely practiced.

  • CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) is usually short term that focuses on our thoughts and actions. It is intended to help us change what can cause unhealthy, unproductive and incapacitating actions. This is usually used for people who suffer with major anxiety, depression and phobias but is also commonly used for
    people getting over addiction whether it be drugs or overeating. These sessions work by recognizing one’s own persistent thoughts and beliefs and how one can respond to them more positively.
  • Another form of psychotherapy is known as psychodynamic therapy, which is used to emphasize a certain life event and relationship, both past and present which affect your current feelings, relationships, or both. A psychodynamic therapist will help with speaking outwardly of traumatic or recent issue to help in
    uncovering memories, events, or dream, helping to shape experiences in a positive way.
  • DBT (Dialect Behavioral Therapy.) is form of cognitive behavioral therapy. Its primary aim is to give people the skills to regulate their emotions and stress in a helpful way to improve relationships and live mindfully. DBT sessions usually consist of one-on-one meetings where the participant develops and practices skills and behaviors to help for a more manageable lifestyle.
  • Lastly, humanistic/experimental therapy focuses one a person’s individual nature rather than collective behaviors that make up a specific psychological category. Therapists use a holistic approach that emphasizes treating the whole person and discovering one’s own self-actualization and self-exploration. Humanistic therapy consists of two types of approaches: Gestalt therapy, which focuses on the here and now to help explore feelings and experiences through creative and experimental ways; and person-centered therapy to help someone decide for oneself through exploring feelings and emotions.

Talking to a qualified therapist is a step toward living a virtuous and fulfilling life. Therapy can help people in identifying and changing harmful thinking and behaviors and even has been shown to changes in the brain. Studies through FMRI have shown to reduce activities in the brain linked to sadness and depression such as the Amygdla, which is responsible in controlling fear and emotion People who suffer with social anxiety have found that online therapy courses result in fewer symptoms along with reduced volume in the amydala. Psychotherapy is much like strength training in physical health – the more one does, the more resilient the brain becomes and it improves how individuals critically work with problems!

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