Psychotherapy 

 

Psychotherapy can have several different goals.  For some individuals, relief from disabling symptoms is the primary goal, and psychotherapy in this circumstance is very specifically directed towards learning techniques to contain or eliminate these symptoms.  This can often be effective in a relatively short amount of time (e.g. several months).  For other individuals, psychotherapy is directed more broadly at addressing difficulties with relationships or with complicated feelings within one’s self.  In that situation, psychotherapy can be a process that gives you the opportunity to learn about yourself in a very thoughtful manner.  The goal with this type of therapy is to allow you to understand the feelings you have in all of their complexity, how this shapes your behavior, how you came to be this way, and what the consequences are for your present situation. While such knowledge will not change you into a different person, it hopefully can give you the opportunity to manage the feelings and behaviors you have in as adaptive and satisfying a way as possible.

               The techniques of psychotherapy are straight-forward:  We will meet probably once a week, for a 45 minute session, and talk sitting face to face.  If your goal is primarily to deal with some current or focal problems, often a few months of discussion is sufficient. However, if your concerns relate to long-standing aspects of your personal functioning that you view as self-defeating, then generally a longer course is necessary.  For problems of that nature, I will probably ask you for more detailed background information in the initial sessions.  Following this, discussion addresses areas that are most important to you.  It is important that you be as candid as possible in sharing your concerns and emotions.  It is through this process that insight develops, giving you the opportunity for more effective functioning in the future.

               Most psychotherapy is conducted individually.  However, it may be that the concerns in question are not simply those of one individual, but rather of a couple, or at times of a family.  If you view this as being the case and feel it would be a good idea, having these other significant people also come to your therapy sessions can often be helpful.  For those patients with very serious illness, it is often helpful to include family members in discussion, as they are affected by and are important in the treatment of such problems.