Where Can Psychotherapy Help

The psychological effects of experiences such as loss, accidents, war trauma, physical attacks, work stress, relationship difficulties, sexual abuse, emotional neglect during childhood and so on can be profound and will be affected not only by the severity of the experience itself but also by such things as a person’s history of distressing events, learned ways of coping, differences in personality and temperament and so on.

Of course, common patterns can be identified, such as ‘flash-backs’ to traumatic experiences, and therapists have developed specific techniques that are helpful to many people.

Nevertheless, it is often very important to understand an individual person’s distress in the context of his or her own history and experience, personal coping strategies and personality. In this way the psychotherapy can be tailored to the individual.

The overwhelming evidence concerning the effectiveness of psychotherapy identifies two major contributors to successful therapy. These are firstly, factors relating to the person seeking therapy, such as their motivation to confront difficulties and work to make changes and, secondly, aspects of the relationship between the therapist and his or her client.

Particular techniques are shown to be useful but are less important and finally a general expectation of success, itself contributes to success. These findings are perhaps not surprising when we consider the nature of psychotherapy.

Unlike treatments based on drugs that can directly affect the body’s chemistry or destroy bacteria, psychotherapy is dependent on the therapist and client working together both to understand a client’s distress and to find ways forward suited to his or her personal circumstances and resources. It is a co-operative process. Psychotherapists bring psychological knowledge and understanding to offer clients and clients bring first hand knowledge of their unique experience and circumstances.

In order for this to happen clients need to feel comfortable with their therapists and be willing to talk openly and freely about themselves and work collaboratively. Therapists need to provide a safe and confidential environment and offer a relationship in which clients feel accepted and understood in their own terms as the basis on which a more psychologically informed understanding can be built.