There are times when the person centred approach used in counselling does not work well e.g. obsessive-compulsive disorders, drug and substance addiction and deep seated problems from your past. These people usually need a more potent approach - psychotherapy.
There are many forms of psychotherapy and your therapist is usually trained in several of these and will decide which is best to help you. They may integrate elements of different approaches to effect a powerful tool to move you forward.
The most commonly used approaches are Cognitive and Behavioural, but your therapist may prefer to use the Psycho dynamic, (Freudian), analysis or one of the other approaches.
Cognitive psychology is the study of all human activity related to knowledge. Cognitive therapy is the holistic art/science of using cognitive principles for healing purposes. Behavioural psychology considers only the observable behaviour and not the underlying mental events. Behavioural therapy holds that behaviour disorders are the result of maladaptive learning and are best remedied by re-education. Over the last couple of decades these two types of therapy have been fused to form a very powerful tool for helping people.
Some studies show that people treated using cognitive-behavioural therapy are less likely to have recurrent depression, when compared to those treated by drug therapy. There are now specific cognitive behavioural treatments for: - anxiety disorders like panic attacks and social phobia, other specific phobias, obsessive compulsive disorders, eating disorders, gambling, drug and alcohol addictions.
There are many people that are having their lives ruined by these problems. They are usually not the only person affected, very often family and friends are distressed and inconvenienced too. The therapy can provide a framework for the patient to modify thoughts, perceptions and behaviour patterns that have been adversely affecting their daily lives, thus enabling them to enjoy a normal rich and full life experience.
Well there are other therapies that, when used in conjunction with normal cognitive-behavioural therapy, frequently help reinforce, or speed up, the process or act as a 'crutch' to support the patient during difficult periods of transition from the old familiar ways to the new unfamiliar and unknown ways of thought and deed.
What Happens During A Consultation?
You will discuss your problems with the psychotherapist and they will decide if this is the best therapy for you. The psychotherapist will then construct a therapy plan, this will vary greatly depending on the nature of the problems to be resolved and the approach(s) used. These plans are flexible and change as required and in many cases a plan will not be made and the sessions will be client led.
Richard Wain - may incorporate elements from Autogenic Training, Neuron-Linguistic Programming and a modified form of this called Psycho-Linguistic Programming, Psyche Control Techniques and Clinical Hypnotherapy. These are all techniques that allow rapid changes within the mind and are not suitable for many people who require a slower approach.
Brenda Hutchinson - works in a different way to Richard, using different approaches and psychological techniques.
Therapists
Brenda Hutchinson - Tuesday afternoon, evenings by arrangement. Richard Wain - Wednesday and Saturday mornings and Thursday evening. |
