What Is The Goal Of Psychotherapy?
Most folks have a general idea of psychotherapy and why you might visit a psychotherapist.
However, knowing what psychotherapy entails and the entire process’s goal is always helpful, especially if you’re considering it.
Because of this, we’ll be filling you in on the overall goal of psychotherapy and what you can generally expect.
The overall goal
The overarching goal of psychotherapy is to treat a patient’s mental disorder or suffering. By psychological means rather than medical means, like prescription drugs.
Generally, prescription drugs are more of a last resort and dual therapy can be very effective. Psychotherapists do not prescribe medication.
While treatment and alleviating a person’s mental suffering is the overall goal, this treatment is achieved by sometimes complex and arduous steps.
Insights
A psychotherapist’s goal is to help their patient see things more clearly and gain a new level of clarity and understanding of themselves and the issues in their lives.
Folks who aren’t suffering from a severe mental disorder but maybe going through a challenging but temporary part in their life, benefit enormously from gaining a new perspective. A psychotherapist will help patients gain new insights into their issues in many ways. It could be writing from the perspective of a loved one or constructing a narrative together to help the patient better understand their circumstances and the reasons behind their suffering.
Although, patients will primarily gain new insights through discussions with their psychotherapist.
Changing behaviors
Many people know what they should and shouldn’t be doing. Most know what’s generally good and bad for them.
Yet how often do we do the things we know aren’t good for us?
A psychotherapist will help a patient change these negative behaviors and habits that could be preventing them from flourishing in life.
Long term change of any person’s behavior requires determination and is always an arduous process. A psychotherapist will help a patient make small steps to whittle away at these negative behaviors. The goal isn’t to remove these behaviors all at once, rather make progress with small but consistent steps over the long term.
The overall success of psychotherapy will depend on the patient’s ability to make a change and take responsibility in their life. A skilled psychotherapist is there to guide a person.
Once a patient begins setting goals with their psychotherapist, they’ve started accepting responsibility for their life and moving forward to make lasting changes.
Achieving goals even with the help of a psychotherapist is going help in various ways. Firstly, the patient will most probably feel better about themselves since they’re making progress.
The patient will begin to understand that when they’re struggling mentally, there are reasons behind their suffering and ways to alleviate or altogether remove that suffering.
In the beginning, a psychotherapist will hold a patient’s hand to make sure they follow through with these goals and continue their progress.
However, the overall goal is that the patient will eventually not need a psychotherapist.
This leads us to our next point.
Dependency
The truth is that many people in the world suffer, and patients suffering now, may suffer in the future.
However, most people see a psychotherapist struggle with the ability to cope through tough times. They may have a severe mental disorder but do not know how to manage and alleviate it.
One goal of a psychotherapist is that a patient won’t require psychotherapy in the future. The patient will be dependent on themselves through tough times and have a level of independence where they can understand what’s wrong and take action to change their circumstances.
Whether it’s the death of a loved one or a struggle with lifelong anxiety, a person must have the ability to cope with difficult situations that are inevitable.
A psychotherapist will help a patient instill healthy coping mechanisms within themselves. So when life throws a curveball, the patient doesn’t need professional help but can deal with it themselves.
Conclusion
The overall goal of psychotherapy is to alleviate or entirely remove one’s mental suffering and illness.
This process is achieved through a series of steps that requires significant effort and time by the patient. However, the benefits and what a person learns can stay with them for life.
Laying the groundwork for a far more successful, happy, and abundant life full of positivity.
If you’re struggling with your mental health and located in the New York area, consider Eclectic Counseling Brooklyn to guide you to a better place.