Psychotherapy or Talk Therapy

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One of the forms of therapy used to treat depression is Psychotherapy which essentially mean opening up for talking by the patient so that they can vent off their bad/ill thoughts and start life afresh with new hope. See the magic of psychotherapy unwind in the section below.

Psychotherapy or talk therapy offers people the opportunity to identify the factors that contribute to their depression and to deal effectively with the psychological, behavioral, interpersonal and situational causes. "Talking" therapies help patients gain insight into and resolve their problems through verbal exchange with the therapist, sometimes combined with "homework" assignments between sessions.

Top Stories in Psychotherapy

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) - Its effectiveness, short-term nature, & low cost are major reasons for its wide acceptance & popularity.		Cognitive Therapy - help the patient overcome difficulties by identifying & changing dysfunctional thinking, behavior, and emotional responses.
Dialectic Behavioral therapy - A major advantage of dialectical behavior therapy is that it can work to improve one’s self respect.		Reality Therapy - The focus of Reality Therapy is to help counselees take ownership of their behavior & responsibility for the direction their lives take.
Psychodynamic theories are in basic agreement that the study of human behaviour should include personality, motivation & drives, etc.		Family/Marital Therapy - Emotional expression is thought to be the medium of shared experience & the means to fulfillment (personal & family).

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Various methods of psychotherapy can help depression, including:

• Rational Emotive Therapy
• Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy(REBT)
• Adlerian Therapy
• Existential Therapy
• Gestalt Therapy
• Person-centered Therapy
• Cognitive Therapy
• Family/Marital Therapy
• Humanistic Therapy
• Postmodern Therapy
• Psychoanalytic Therapy
• Psychodynamic Theory
• EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing - Therapy
• Reality Therapy
• Transactional Analysis
• Thought Field Therapy
• Interpersonal Therapy
• Dialectic Behavioral therapy
• Emotional Freedom Technique
• Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
• Transpersonal psychotherapy
• EMDR and PTSD

It involves verbal and nonverbal communication about thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviors in individual, group or family sessions in order to change unhealthy patterns of coping, relieve emotional distress and encourage personality growth and improved interpersonal relations.

For people with mild to moderate depression, it may be effective on its own. But many people with major depression do better with treatment that combines psychotherapy and antidepressant medication.

Common factors in psycotherapy:

• Listening - by listening intently, the therapist shows concern for the patient's problem and begins to develop the helping relationship in which the patient feels understood.
• The theapeutic relationship - this is generally thought to be the most important of the common factors in psycotherapy. However, it may become too intense with resulting problems.
• Release of emotion - Emotional release can be helpful at the begining of treatment, but repeated release is seldom useful. Intense and rapid emotional release is caled abreaction.
• Advice and guidance - these are part of all psychotherapy. In brief therapies, the advice and guidance is given directly; in long-term treatments the patient is made to seek the answers, but may still be guided - less obviously - in deciding which are right.
• Providing information - Distressed patient's may remember little of what they have been told about their condition because their concentration is poor. Information should be as simple as possible and expressed clearly. It may be necessary to explain important points more than once, or write them down.

Psychotherapy can be a very useful way of resolving emotional and interpersonal problems but it does requires a commitment of your time and energy:

• depression,
• mood disorders,
• anxiety disorders,
• eating disorders,
• problems associated with abuse of alcohol or drugs
• problems related to life circumstances and events, such as loss and grief, marital difficulties, abuse or traumatic events, or dealing with aging parents or adolescent children,
• sexual disorders,
• sleep disorders,
• difficulties in developing intimate relationships,
• disorders involving disruptions in the functions of consciousness, identity, and memory,
• personality disorders.

In the case of severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, psychotherapy is frequently used to help patients understand and manage their illness. Armed with this understanding, the patient is more likely to remain in treatment and thus to avoid relapse.

There are a wide number of different types of effective therapeutic approaches utilized for the treatment of depression today. Many forms of psychotherapy, including some short-term (10-20 week) therapies, can help depressed individuals.

Both individual and group modalities are commonly used, depending upon the severity of the depressive episode and the local resources within an individual's community. Professional Psychotherapy/Counselling utilises Counselling, Psychotherapeutic, and Psychological theories, and a set of advanced interpersonal skills which emphasise processes of facilitation. Such processes are based on an ethos of respect for clients, their values, their beliefs, their uniqueness and the right to self-determination.