Is Psychotherapy Effective?



Is Psychotherapy Effective?

Introduction

The human being feel, think and act, so that both their happiness and their pain are conditioned by the interaction of these functions, and with their natural and social environment. Psychotherapy, which combats the individual's psychological pain and its consequences, can be defined as the art of healing with the word. As the focus of this "conversation" arise the different types of psychotherapy. If the talk is focused on the emotional aspects of the subject, the method is called "psychoanalysis" or "psychodynamic". If emphasizes the intellectual, is called "cognitive." If specializes in behavior, called "behavioral". Many psychotherapists, however, try to practice a personal synthesis and intuitive, eclectic, three approaches such as every patient and every moment. It's the wise. After all, feeling, thinking and acting are, in practice, a single unified process. There has been much debate about whether the psychotherapy is effective or not. Some state that psychotherapy is an effective way to heal the mental problems and lead a normal life while others believe that the illness can be cured through medicines.

Background

In 1952, Hans Eysenck, a British psychologist, measured the effectiveness of therapy. For the purposes of an insurance company, he discovered that 72% of people diagnosed with psychoneuroses had improved their condition without the help of any professional therapeutic intervention for a period of two years. Of the 34 studies at the time, the conclusion was advanced that those who had not received psychotherapy had the same results as those who had received. After this research, many researchers criticized the methods and conclusions of Eysenck (Mozdzier et al, 2009). However, it took until the 70s to highlight the influence of psychotherapy on mental disorders. Mary Lee Smith and his team have shown of 375 studies in 1977 and 475 in 1980, which showed that 80% of those who received therapy fared better than those who did not receive. The conclusion of Smith and his team indeed concluded that psychotherapy benefits people of all ages (Schofield, 2006).

With researchers furthered their studies to include the factors that what makes the psychotherapy effective. The research team tested different approaches, methods and practices most commonly used in psychotherapy. They found no proven techniques had a more marked than another. Thus, the approaches like psychodynamic, Adlerian, transactional analysis, Eclectic, rational emotive gestaltite, person-centered, systematic desensitization, implosion or behavior of all kinds, were as useful in some cases while in some they were unsuccessful. In other words, psychotherapy is effective, regardless of the approach chosen (Spiegel, 2009). Despite the many volumes devoted to various theories among schools of psychotherapy research results showed negligible differences in the effects produced by any type of therapy. Unconditional judgments about the superiority of one approach over another are not justified.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy aims to cure or help the individual to resolve behavioral problems and / or psychological problems. The psychotherapist will serve s a coach and/or guide throughout the therapy. The word therapy means most especially the practice of ...