How Psychotherapy Works

when one is in a bad place in one's head the modern world offers three main sources of help psychiatric meditation CBT and psychotherapy each one of these has its own advantages and drawbacks medication can be exemplary in a crisis at points when the mind is so under siege from fear anxiety or despair that thinking things through cannot be an option correctly administered without requiring any conscious cooperation from us pills play around with our brain chemistry in a way that helps us get through to the next day and the one after we make it very sleepy a bit nauseous or rather foggy in the process but at least we're still around and functioning more or less then there is cognitive behavioral therapy CBT normally administered by psychologists and psychiatrists in six to ten hour long sessions which teaches techniques for arguing rationally with and with any luck at points controlling the ghoulish certainties thrown up by our internal persecutors paranoia low self-esteem shame and panic lastly there is psychotherapy which from a distance looks like it has only drawbacks psychotherapy has a very hard time showing its efficacy in scientific trials and it has to plead that its results are too singular neatly to fit the models offered by statisticians also it takes up a large amount of time demanding perhaps two sessions a week for a couple of years and it's therefore by far the most expensive option on the menu finally psychotherapy requires active engagement from its patients and sustained emotional effort what cards simply allow chemistry to do the work and yet psychotherapy is in certain cases a hugely effective choice which properly alleviates pain not by magic or chance but for three solidly founded reasons firstly our unconscious feelings become conscious a founding idea of psychotherapy is that we get mentally unwell have a breakdown or develop phobias because we are not sufficiently aware of the difficulties we've been through somewhere in the past we've endured certain situations that were so troubling or sad they outstripped our rational faculties and had to be pushed out of day-to-day awareness for example we can't remember the real dynamics of our relationship with a parent we can't see what we do every time someone tries to get close to us nor trace the origins of our self-sabotage or panic around sex victims of our unconscious we cannot grasp what we longed for or a terrified by in such cases we cannot be healed simply through rational discussion as proponents of CBT implicitly propose because we can't fathom what's powering our distress in the first place psychotherapy is a tool for correcting ourself ignorant in the most profound ways it provides us with a space in which we can in safety say whatever comes into our heads the therapist won't be disgusted or surprised or bored they've seen everything already in their company we can feel acceptable and our secrets sympathetically unpacked as a result crucial ideas and feelings bubble up from the unconscious and are healed through exposure interpretation and contextualization we cry about incidents we didn't even know before the session started that we've been through all felt so strongly about the ghosts of the past are seen in daylight and a laid to rest there's a second reason why psychotherapy can work so well transference transference is a technical term that describes the way once therapy develops a patient will start to behave towards the therapist in ways that echo aspects of their most important and most traumatic past relationships a patient with a punitive parent might for example develop a strong feeling that the therapist must find them revolting or boring Oh a patient who needed to keep a depressed parent cheerful when they were small might feel compelled to put up a joky facade were never dangerously sad Epic's come into view we transfer like this outside therapy all the time but there what we're doing doesn't get noticed or properly dealt with however psychotherapy is a controlled experiment that can teach us to observe what we're up to understand where our impulses come from and then adjust our behavior unless unfortunate directions a therapist might gently ask a patient why they're so convinced they must be disgusting or they might lead them to see how their use of jokey sarcasm is covering up underlying sadness and terror the patient thereby starts to spot the distortions in their expectations set up by their history and develops less self-defeating ways of interacting with people in their lives going forward then the third reason why psychotherapy works it is the first good relationship we are many of us critically damaged by the legacy of past bad relationships when we were defenseless and small we didn't have the luxury of experiencing people who were reliable who listened to us who set the right boundaries and helped us to feel legitimate and worthy however when things go well the therapist is experienced as the first truly supportive and reliable person we've yet encountered but they become the good parent we so needed and maybe never had in their company we can regress to stages of development that went wrong and relived them with a better ending now we can express need we can be properly angry and entirely devastated and they will take it thereby making good years of pain one good relationship becomes the model for relationships outside the therapy room the therapists moderate intelligent voice becomes part of our own inner dialogue we are cured through continuous repeated exposure to sanity and kindness psychotherapy won't work for everyone one has to be in the right place in one's mind one has to stumble on a good pissed and be in a position to give the process due time and care but all that said with a fair wind psychotherapy also has the chance to be the best thing we ever get around to doing if you're interested in trying psychotherapy the School of Life offers a service in person in London or by Skype around the world click on the link for further details you

Channel: The School of Life

Views: 410,316

Rating: 4.9321833 out of 5

Keywords: the school of life, schooloflife, education, relationships, alain de botton, philosophy, talk, self, improvement, big questions, love, wellness, mindfullness, psychology, how, to, hack, how psychotherapy works, how psychotherapy helps me, secrets of therapy, CBT, 心理治疗如何运作, PL-SELF, Como funciona a psicoterapia, Comment fonctionne la psychothérapie, Wie Psychotherapie funktioniert, Cómo funciona la psicoterapia, मनोचिकित्सा कैसे काम करता है, skype therapy, mental illness, depression, anxiety, ocd

Id: g-i6QMvIAA0

Length: 7min 16sec (436 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 05 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/OrangeKing]

Psychologist here. CBT is a type of psychotherapy, not an alternative. There are many other types of treatment that have been shown to be effective besides just CBT. This video is very confusing? Almost no psychologists meet with people twice a week. There is such a mental health crisis that no one has time to do this.

[u/MementoMoriR1]

This is not 'how' but justification for Psychotherapy as a treatment plan. While I generally support differing methodology, at the end of the day, the treatment needs to be shown as effective. This is how we know things like single session intervention doesn't work (Emmerik, et al., 2002). Each intervention needs to show that it works better than control and continues to work.

[u/isitheretolurkreddit]

In my experience working with a psycotherapist, it really help me awknowledge my depression, my habits, and my self-destructive nature. Prior to these sessions (once every 2 weeks for 6-8ish months) I was an emotional mess, I just got off an emotionally and physically abusive relationship and moved back with my aunt. My mom died when I was 10 and my dad died when I was 13. Even though I had my aunt around, she wasn't capable of providing support due to work and her own daughters and the fact that I moved out just for a guy that I barley met (I know). I was left to fend for myself and I felt alone with no one to support me.

I did the best of my ability to avoid causing self harm or taking medication to relieve the inner pain that I was experiencing at that time. Leading me to the path of mindfulness and yoga, which lead me to a scholarship for full-paid psychotherapy. (literally $250 each session)

These sessions with her were mind opening for me. She helped me unlock my inner self as cheesy as it sounds. But really, I don't feel alone anymore because of her, because I have myself, her, and my support system that I have built throughout our sessions.

I could write a book about how (me) a young gay asian orphan college dropout, who surivived moving away from a physically and emotionally abusive ex-boyfriend, who now in the end, is now a confident person who works for a huge tech startup in San Fransisco. It sounds unreal but it's true. It's my unique experience that I'll always cherish, because without my psycotherapist and all those experiences, I wouldn't be where I am today nor handle all the work/human interactions I have today haha.

Though that's just my experience, many have their own experiences, psychotherapy worked for me.