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Psychotherapy: Questions & Answers

What is the difference between Psychotherapy, Psychology and Psychiatry?
Psychiatry is the branch of conventional medicine concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. Drugs are frequently prescribed. A psychiatrist is a specialist medical doctor.

Psychology is the study of human behaviour. There are many specialist areas, for example educational psychology, clinical psychology and criminal psychology.

Psychotherapy deals with mental, emotional or behavioural difficulties. Essentially, it seeks to identify and understand the reasons underlying these difficulties. Thoughts, feelings and actions are explored in a working relationship characterised by mutual trust and respect. Clients are challenged to honestly evaluate their values and then to decide for themselves in what ways they might wish to modify these values and their behaviour, Drugs are not prescribed as, generally, a psychotherapist is not a medical doctor.

Counselling is a generic term and it overlaps with psychotherapy. Both are self-exploratory experiences. What seems crucial is learning how to cope with external and internal forces that limit our decisions and behaviour. Generally psychotherapy works at a deeper level than counselling.

 

So what is Integrative Psychotherapy that Ann Nye employs?
There are many different psychotherapeutic approaches such as, psychoanalytic, existential, cognitive-behavioural, Adlerian, person-centred to name but a few. Some place more emphasis on past events, some concentrate more on present and past thinking, some focus on internal dynamics whilst others emphasise the importance of feelings and behaviours. Integrative Psychotherapy integrates the various therapeutic approaches to suit the needs of the individual.

 

Is Integrative Psychotherapy appropriate for me?
The human dimension is critical – i.e. is the personal chemistry right between the client and the counsellor? That is how you will know if it is appropriate for you. This is established at a very early stage of the work. It is essential that the therapist has the requisite knowledge, skills and training in whatever approach he/she practises. However, it is recognised that the most important factor fostering growth is the quality of the client/counsellor relationship.

 

Will it solve my problems?
It will increase your insight and self-awareness i.e. it will help you to address your problems by helping you to understand what ‘makes you tick’ and how this contributes to or detracts from your relationship with yourself and others. It will focus on acceptance of personal responsibility. You will gradually appreciate that even with the social, environmental, cultural and biological realities that we all need to recognise, you have more freedom of choice in your life than you ever realised. It is hard work and takes courage and commitment but it has been described as a profound life changing experience.