Introduction to Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy seems to involve something extremely simple: two people in a room talking to each other.
But what exactly are they doing in that room, and why?That is the topic I shall be exploring in a series of articles.
I learned about psychotherapy as I went along, discovering what was involved as it happened, and I supplemented what I learned from discussions with my therapist with extensive reading.
Thus the information I have to offer comes from a mixture of my own experience, my therapist, and reading.
In places I have used quotes from writers I have found helpful.
I have included a bibliography giving details of the books from which I quote, as well as a section on recommended books.
There are many different kinds of psychotherapy.
The correct name for the kind I am describing is 'psychoanalytically-orientated psychotherapy'.
It is closer to Freudian psychoanalysis than to counselling and is used to treat a wide range of psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, drug and alcohol abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders such as anorexia, and general problems of living.
In this kind of therapy the approach adopted by the psychotherapist, and our experience of being in therapy will be much the same no matter what label is put on our illness.
We will soon start to delve behind the symptoms to look at and resolve their deeper causes.
In one of my first sessions my therapist said: "I should warn you that the person who comes out of psychotherapy is not the same as the person who goes in.
"I could not imagine what the implications of that remark might be, but I found it both daunting and intriguing.
I felt I was about to embark on a journey with no idea what kind of journey it would be, or where it would take me.
The journey of therapy is an unpredictable one on which nothing is secure, everything is open to question, and things we thought immutable get turned upside down.
It is a journey below the horizon of everyday life into areas which are relevant to all but unknown to most.
It is a journey through ourselves, both as individuals and as human beings the same as all others.
In the course of that journey we are introduced to an enlightened approach to experience, and to a wealth of knowledge which is normally only available to those directly involved.
It is that enlightened approach and that knowledge which I wish to share with the reader.
Read more at: http://insidetherapy.
blogspot.
com/
But what exactly are they doing in that room, and why?That is the topic I shall be exploring in a series of articles.
I learned about psychotherapy as I went along, discovering what was involved as it happened, and I supplemented what I learned from discussions with my therapist with extensive reading.
Thus the information I have to offer comes from a mixture of my own experience, my therapist, and reading.
In places I have used quotes from writers I have found helpful.
I have included a bibliography giving details of the books from which I quote, as well as a section on recommended books.
There are many different kinds of psychotherapy.
The correct name for the kind I am describing is 'psychoanalytically-orientated psychotherapy'.
It is closer to Freudian psychoanalysis than to counselling and is used to treat a wide range of psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, drug and alcohol abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders such as anorexia, and general problems of living.
In this kind of therapy the approach adopted by the psychotherapist, and our experience of being in therapy will be much the same no matter what label is put on our illness.
We will soon start to delve behind the symptoms to look at and resolve their deeper causes.
In one of my first sessions my therapist said: "I should warn you that the person who comes out of psychotherapy is not the same as the person who goes in.
"I could not imagine what the implications of that remark might be, but I found it both daunting and intriguing.
I felt I was about to embark on a journey with no idea what kind of journey it would be, or where it would take me.
The journey of therapy is an unpredictable one on which nothing is secure, everything is open to question, and things we thought immutable get turned upside down.
It is a journey below the horizon of everyday life into areas which are relevant to all but unknown to most.
It is a journey through ourselves, both as individuals and as human beings the same as all others.
In the course of that journey we are introduced to an enlightened approach to experience, and to a wealth of knowledge which is normally only available to those directly involved.
It is that enlightened approach and that knowledge which I wish to share with the reader.
Read more at: http://insidetherapy.
blogspot.
com/
