What is Psychotherapy?

What is Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is speech therapy performed by a professional specialist (clinical psychologist or psychiatrist).

It allows you to share your feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and memories that you want to talk about your life, in short everything you want to share about yourself, in a reliable and focused environment.
Psychotherapy can also be defined as a process in which you try to find the source and possible solutions to the problems related to your psychological health, in other words, the situations that prevent you from enjoying life and that force you into your daily life.

The duty of the psychotherapist is not to give you advice or counsel, to guide you to the truths that they know, and not to judge or criticize you. It is possible to compare the psychotherapist with the harbor pilot or co-pilot who is next to the chief pilot on a journey.

The therapist listens to what you bring to the therapy room, remembers, accompanies you physically, emotionally, and mentally, and shares what they see, thinks and feels in the face of those shared in the room.

They certainly do not share what you tell with others. Thus, they make you feel comfortable and safe on your journey to your inner world in the therapy room.

Thanks to this trust, it is possible for the person to share issues that are difficult to share with others in social life during psychotherapy.

Who Should Apply for Psychotherapy?

Although psychotherapy is one of the treatment methods that can be applied when faced with psychological health problems such as depression and anxiety (anxiety) that complicate the life of the person, it is not necessary for the person to have a specific psychiatric diagnosis to start psychotherapy. It is possible to work on many personal problems such as

• Restlessness,
• Hopelessness,
• Loss of motivation about life,
• Difficulties in performing daily tasks,
• Unexplained anxiety and feelings of emptiness,
• Problems in social and romantic relationships,
• Physical (psychosomatic) symptoms of psychological origin,
• Anger or sadness, which has become wearisome.

Since all people may encounter such problems at some point in their lives, psychotherapy is a process that all people can benefit from without any diagnosis.

No Diagnosis Is Needed to Apply

When it comes to psychological health, it is more difficult to distinguish between a healthy individual and a patient, unlike other health branches, and even such a decision in psychotherapy is not as necessary as in other branches. A person feels better or worse at different stages of his/her life, undergoes positive or negative changes in his/her emotions and behaviors, and performs at different levels in different areas of life.

These situations do not indicate that the person is psychologically "healthy" or "unhealthy". For this reason, those who come to psychotherapy are often referred to as "clients" rather than "patients".

How Long Does Psychotherapy Take?

Psychotherapy is usually done once a week in 50-minute sessions. It is extremely important to comply with this schedule.

The formation of the client-therapist relationship, the client feeling more comfortable in the room, the therapist getting to know the client better, and the diversification of the topics to be studied is a process that is extended over some time. It should be known that the therapist does not have a magic wand, a medicine that will make a quick recovery, or advice that will change everything.

When Are the Effects of Psychotherapy Seen?

As a concept, psychotherapy is an interesting process that is rarely seen in social life. The person shares many things about himself /herself with a specialist whom he/she did not know before and about whom he/she did not have much personal knowledge. Therefore, it takes time to establish a relationship of trust in the therapy room and to share freely in front of this unknown person. In addition, since the origin of what the client brings to the therapy room is often based on countless past experiences spanning the whole life, patience for change should be shown and a sharp and quick effect should not be expected from psychotherapy. 

But this does not mean that therapy is an aimless journey into the unknown. Although the topics and goals discussed may change as therapy progresses, in the first phase of psychotherapy, the client and therapist determine the topics they can work on together and the goals they want to achieve.

Are There Different Types of Psychotherapy?

Psychiatrists adopt one of these schools to a higher extent, but they can use the knowledge and methods of other schools when necessary.

In psychotherapy with a professional who has adopted the psychodynamic school, he/she focuses on the experiences from the first stages of life, the effects they create on the person, and how the person's behaviors, emotions, beliefs, in short, his/her personality is formed in the face of these experiences.

For example, in therapy with a person who does not enjoy life much, finds it difficult to find energy for daily tasks, and has difficulties in relationships, the reasons that push the person to this depressive state are sought in the past experiences of the person as well as in daily life. The therapist and client work together to understand the causes of the situation and take steps to get out of it.

The ability for the client to openly share their feelings with another person can be distressing at first but often has a relaxing effect. The human mind is programmed to make sense of what it has experienced and draw conclusions. In therapy, re-talking past and current experiences and, if necessary, drawing new and healthier conclusions from them paves the way for positive change.

How to Cope with Problems in Psychotherapy?

Most of the time, although a person logically knows that behavior, habit, thought, or belief needs to be changed, he/she cannot change it for certain reasons. The reason for this is that these personal characteristics are formed layer by layer over the years as a result of numerous interactions with the person's environment, that is, they are shaped as a result of deep-rooted learning processes of which we are not completely conscious.

Therefore, in psychotherapy, instead of giving general advice, past and current factors that drag the person into dissatisfied situations are tried to be brought to light. Psychotherapy is an ideal environment for remembering, rethinking, and talking about these factors, which are often difficult to face and require effort.

Frequently Asked Questions

• I've Heard That Psychologists Don't Talk Much in the Sessions, Why?

Although psychotherapy has a technique based on bilateral communication, it is predominantly a client-oriented process. Therefore, the therapist does not bring his/her own agenda to the room, does not try to push the client in a certain direction, but comes to the session ready to listen to what the client brings. The therapist encourages the client to speak freely, rather than proceeding in a question-and-answer fashion to open up space for the client to express themselves freely. For this reason, sessions are generally expected to begin as the client wishes. But at the same time, since it is a bilateral communication and relationship, the therapist must be different from a listening device or a mirror that reflects only what they have heard. Because this balance is difficult to achieve, one of the most common complaints about psychotherapy is that therapists are too passive and quiet. Frankly, we can never say that there is no justification for these complaints. However, it should be remembered that the therapist is not as verbally active as the client in the therapy room, in order to keep the focus of the therapy on the journey to the inner world of the client.

• Can't I Tell My Spouse or Friend What I Would Tell a Psychologist?

In other social relations, the person tries not to offend or bore the other person while talking about himself/herself, takes care that the conversation is not one-sided, and filters what he/she shares in order to preserve the existing bond with the other person. Psychotherapy, on the other hand, can be conducted more freely because it is a client-focused process. Subjects that are difficult to talk about or considered taboo in social life, such as death, sexuality, family relationships, and traumatic experiences, can be discussed more comfortably in the therapy room with the assurance that the listener is ready to hear them and with the assurance that they will not get out of the room.

• Do Therapists Get All the Training Just to Listen to The Client?

A good psychotherapist should be able to deeply understand and feel what the client conveys without alienation, in other words, empathize. Although each person has unique characteristics, the psychotherapist should know the nature of the human species. The therapist should be competent in the developmental stages of human beings, their biological and mental needs, common psychological problems, in which situations and with which symptoms they can occur, and how to deal with them. A good therapist also has some knowledge in branches such as philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and neurobiology in order to adequately comprehend what the client conveys.

A good therapist also has insight into his or her own psychological processes, since most of the time what is discussed in psychotherapy is common and universal issues.

The therapist tries to listen to the subjects brought to the therapy room with an open mind, being aware of the effect of the subject on himself/herself, and in order to achieve this, most therapists themselves go through the psychotherapy process. In short, the therapist accompanies you in your process, both with his/her knowledge of the nature of human behavior and his/her physical, mental, and emotional existence.

• How Can I Begin the Psychotherapy Process?

When you decide to start psychotherapy, you can first do research on which psychiatrist or clinical psychologist to consult, get advice from your environment, and get information about the education of the therapists you find, the therapy technique they apply, and working conditions such as day/hour/fee. Since psychiatrists and clinical psychologists can direct applicants to each other and work together, when necessary, you can apply to one of these two branches. When the therapy conditions suit you, you can make an appointment to have the first session with the therapist in question. In the first session, if you wish, you can get information about the therapy process from your therapist and ask your questions.