What is Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is having personal counseling with a psychotherapist, is an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained and qualified psychotherapists to help and assist a client or patient in solving problems of living.

Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind; psychotherapy is a general term that is used to describe the process of addressing and treating psychological disorders and mental distress.   A client may have a particular mental illness or a source of life stress that needs external help from a qualified psychotherapist who has been carefully trained to help such individuals tackle problems from within.

Depending on the approach used by the therapist, a wide range of techniques and strategies can be used.  Often, most types of psychotherapy involve developing a therapeutic relationship, communicating and creating workable dialogue to overcome problematic behavior and/or thoughts.

The objective of a psychologist is to increase the individual's sense of their own well-being, helping the client to feel good about themselves and to be in control of their thoughts and actions. Psychotherapists use a range of special techniques based on experiential relationship building, dialogue and communication, these techniques have proven to help change behavior and  improve the mental health of a client or patient, or to improve group relationships (such as in a family).

Psychotherapy can also be performed by practitioners with a number of different qualifications, including psychiatry, counseling psychology, mental health counseling, clinical psychology, clinical social work, clinical or psychiatric social work, marriage and family therapy, rehabilitation counseling, drama therapy, dance/movement therapy, social therapy, music therapy, art therapy, occupational therapy, psychiatric nursing and other similar psychotherapies. These therapies may be legally regulated, voluntarily regulated or unregulated, depending on the jurisdiction.

Requirements and qualifications of these professions vary from one to another but often require some form of training and supervised clinical experience.

Psychotherapy is now regarded a distinct profession in its own right, with many different types of professionals engaging in the psychotherapy arena, such skills are prominent and required in hospitals, doctors surgeries, children's nurseries and many aspects of social working.