Is the Length of Psychotherapy Related to the Nature of Treatment - Essay Example

?Running head: IS THE LENGTH OF PSYCHOTHERAPY RELATED TO THE NATURE OF TREATMENT OR TO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS? Is the Length of Psychtherapy Related to the Nature of Treatment or to the Nature of Psychological Disorders? Author’s name Institutional Affiliation Abstract The length of psychotherapy was examined according to its relating to the nature of treatment and the nature of psychological disorder. There are lots of various methods applied by psychotherapists for treating psychological disorders of different etiology. Classic psychoanalysis takes much time and applied for treating serious subconscious psychological disorders of patients. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a procedure taking a long period of treatment, as well (Shear, 2007). Focal psychotherapy is a limited form of psychotherapy implying an existence of a specific problem and using so-called focused therapy for treating this problem. Psychoanalytic counseling is usually working with specific life situation occurred. It may be a period ranging from one meeting to several years. In some cases a person, who wishes to obtain psychoanalytic help, can choose the duration of treatment depending on the goals and circumstances. The duration and frequency of meetings are determined by the patient and the psychoanalyst and does not necessarily take a long time. If we talk about psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, they are never limited to a specific time or course of treatment. Together these findings suggest that the length of any psychotherapy is related to the severity of mental disease. Thus, the argument is that the duration of therapy depends on the nature of stated problem and the patient's personality, the methods and various techniques should be chosen accordingly. Key words: psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic theory, psychological disorder. Introduction Nowadays it is almost impossible to avoid stressfulness, anxiety and disturbance. The tempo of our contemporary life is so fast, that sometimes we really have no time just to get some rest, calm down and have a serious look at things happening in our life. We become too nervous, too irritated, too tired and unsatisfied with everything and anyone. Sometimes it is very difficult and even impossible to single out a definite reason for being so unhappy and distressed. As a matter of fact, such behavior becomes the reason of quarrels and scandals at work and home. Some people can cope with their problems by themselves, but some really need professional help and even treatment. Nobody can deny that everybody needs being heard and understood. With the help of mental health practitioners a lot of people are able to face their fears, doubts, complexes and thus, they can fight their own demons successfully. From ancient times people regarded the mental disorders as the most difficult to treat. Such illnesses were considered to be connected with human’s soul and they were almost incurable. In some countries such mentally sick people were supposed to be cursed, they were feared and sickening. In Russia, however, whacky people, or as they were called “God’s fools”, were considered to be blessed and piety; it was a great sin to hurt or abuse them somehow. Nevertheless, such people were never tried to be treated. But time is changing and there appeared a science that was able to give hope to hopeless, the science able to treat souls. Psychotherapy is a comparatively young science, and it is defined as treatment of different mental and emotional disorders by means of psychological methods. It is not a secret that at the present time more and more people try to seek this help in the offices of psychotherapists. It is necessary for them to speak to a professional, to get a useful piece of advice and find a rest at last. But still it is not so easy. The period of recovering from any disease is always uneasy and complicated with lots of factors (Bateson, 1958). The therapist should understand the patient's problems, and actively help him overcome such hazards of life without looking for hidden motivations. The therapist regards such problems as difficult and even impossible for the patient to solve without his professional help. This approach in itself helps the patient. The therapist should know and be ready to apply, even in the most difficult situations some specific techniques for treating his client’s mental disorder. Success is confirmed by overcoming such mental problems. The choice of necessary way of treatment should be preceded by the long process. So, the psychotherapist should be very sensitive to feel and sometimes predict the subtlest changes happening with the client. Such Spiritual Healing is a way to self-understanding and peace attaining (Klerman, 1984). The first psychotherapeutic sessions were conducted by the Austrian scientist Sigmund Freud. He is considered to be a father of psychotherapy. Today none can be surprised with such sessions. Lots of methods and approaches are applied by the contemporary psychotherapists, but what does the duration of such procedures really depend on? According to most psychologists and psychotherapists, the treatment and methods of psychotherapy are chosen individually. Every person is a little universe, unique universe, so the way of treatment should be taken according to the particular case (Repper, 2006). People are different, their problems, needs, illnesses, physical or mental, also differ. Somebody may suffer from depression caused by an unsuccessfully chosen dress, and someone inherited the severe form of schizophrenia and is in extreme need of urgent treatment that may last very long. As a matter of fact, it is very difficult to speak about the length of psychotherapy, because sometimes the methods of treatment are combined and thus the procedure can be prolonged. According to J Gafford, the duration of short-term help - usually some advice - aimed at solving specific problems, and long-term aid is aimed at achieving some internal personal changes of the client. Short-term psychotherapy (short-term, brief, time limited, immediate therapy), despite the apparent semantic uniqueness, is a very vague notion which is out of any particular conceptual framework. It ranges from a short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy usually lasting for several months and up to one- meeting psychotherapy in the context of the behavioral therapy, or short-term positive psychotherapy. Long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy is a psychoanalytical process. It is possible to speak about the long-term psychotherapy, when the process of therapy exceeds 40-50 sessions; the duration of the process depends on the number of conflict zones. And this is the main thing: the number of so-called conflict zones is determined by the nature of psychological disorder (Ellenberger, 1970). Long-term psychotherapy is focused on the client’s past (while short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy is focuses on the main conflict and relies on the ability of the person to make generalizations and put into practice what has been achieved in the course of psychotherapeutic work). So, with the deepening of mutual understanding between the client and therapist, the client gets the opportunity to identify and resolve his internal unconscious conflicts, comprehend the mechanisms of mental activity allowing changing the existing concept of lifestyle and the attitude towards the world. There is no doubt that the length of any psychotherapy is related to the nature of psychological disorder of a particular patient. It is impossible to apply one methodic for treating all mental health problems, as well as each case demands specific approach. Nowadays different psychotherapists use different methods and techniques (there are more than four thousand applied); very often such methods are combined to achieve better results. And the duration of each treatment varies (Frank, 1988). We can use proof by contradiction. Let’s assert that the length of any psychotherapy is related to the nature of treatment, not the nature of patient’s psychological disorder. Accordingly, we can state that the length of treating any form of cancer and ordinary cold can be equal; it depends on the method a psychotherapist applies (Crawford, 2006). Of course, it is not right to deny that fact that the length of psychotherapy does not depend on the nature of treatment suggested by a specialist. Technically, if the practitioner chooses a method of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for treating client’s mild psychotic disorder, he sets the limits of the length of chosen treatment. However, the way of treatment was chosen according to the problem occurred, thus the length of treatment is conditioned by the nature of disorder. It is hard to imagine any mental health practitioner choosing a method of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy to treat his client’s temporary despair. Though this method takes much time, it doesn’t mean that it is effective for treating this particular disorder, and applying this method is just an impractical waste of time (Shear, 2007). When working with the clients, the therapist should decide whether they are in need of overcoming their problems, or of better self-understanding. As a fact, well-educated and successful people often do not need help in overcoming problems. They need to know what actually make them behave the way that problems arise. If this person is able to understand a problem, he can solve it. A lot of researches have proved that the psychoanalytic psychotherapy is suitable mostly for intelligent, educated, successful people, whose symptoms are not strongly pronounced. Let’s take a difficult case: a patient suffering from schizophrenia needing special treatment. It is obvious that first of all, a psychotherapist should assess the severity of the disease before choosing the appropriate methods of treatment. American scientists G. Bateson, D. Jackson suggests that the method of family psychotherapy can be applied for treating children suffering from schizophrenia. G. Bateson and D. Jackson developed a psychogenetic theory of schizophrenia, studying the nature of relationships in families of patients with schizophrenia (the "hypothesis of double bond”). These studies have increased interest in family therapy and family involvement in the therapy of schizophrenia. But it is a well-known fact that the family psychotherapy can be used for treating such mental disorders as depression, psychosis and neurosis. Can the mentioned above disorders be compared with schizophrenia? Undoubtedly, that treating schizophrenia will take as much time as treating neurosis (Berrios, 1996). So, the conclusion is obvious - the nature of treatment is the same, but the longitude of both types of treatment depends on the particular case of psychological disorder. Nowadays more and more psychologists and psychotherapist try to apply short-term therapy for treatment, intensifying the process. But fast does not almost mean high-quality and reliable. We need help, but at the same time we have no time to devote it to ourselves. So we try to choose the way of treatment taking up as little time as possible. In our contemporary society a lot of people, being always surrounded by colleagues, relatives or friends, feel lonely and depressed. Such people can shut down, become nervous and irritated. For treatment of such disorders as depression, fears and personality disorders, the cognitive therapy is widely applied. Cognitive therapy, according to A. Beck is a group of techniques for treating various psychological disorders. The cognitive part is in singling out the pathogens, inadequate thoughts, beliefs, assumptions, expectations that are usually followed by pathogenic (inadequate) emotions (depression, fear), or behavior. Thoughts are revealed in different ways: through the conversation, through the systematic recording (special diary) of thoughts, feelings, behaviors, events; through confrontation or role-playing game. Pathogenic, inadequate thoughts are replaced by the therapist with a conversation (Socratic Dialogue). These thoughts are compared with reality, presented and recorded by the patient. The effectiveness of cognitive therapy has been studied since 1977 in 16 trials at a high scientific level. Therapy lasts from 4 to 24 weeks. As usual, there are less than 10 sessions required. But it is just statistics. For example, a woman attends the psychotherapeutic sessions to get rid of obsessive fears. Taking into consideration the severity of woman’s symptoms, the duration of the given disorder and its nature, a therapist suggests cognitive therapy. The process of treatment is supposed to take approximately 23 weeks (according to the nature of treatment). The procedure of treatment requires client’s gradual resumption of self-confidence, substitution of social fears with positive experience and gradual restoring of normal social position. Both the client and mental practitioner account on a definite period for the treatment to last. Nonetheless, the method of reality confrontation is able to cause the relapse and plunge the person into the abyss of her constant fears and disturbance. Consequently, all the results achieved during the therapy are in vane, and the length of psychotherapy is to be prolonged. Conclusion Summing up, it can be said that the priority of any psychotherapy is a person with all his problems, fears, values and world perception. The main and the most important principle of psychotherapy is the therapist should follow the client. No matter what treatment is applied, no matter how much time it really takes; the point is that any person seeking help should find it. Most clients are not interested in methods or kinds of psychological treatment that are going to be applied for their treatment. All they want is self-confidence, happy family life, life without fears and phobias, disturbance and stresses, doubts and embarrassment. It is a prerogative of a therapist to establish the course of treatment, but mental health of a client is above all. And, as it was stated above, each person is a creature with the unique and inimitable inner world, so any sort of treatment should be chosen individually. Consequently, the length of treatment also varies widely. Every specific case should be taken into consideration and deeply analyzed. Of course, there is no dispute concerning the fact that duration of any treatment is caused by the nature of this treatment. But the nature of treatment is determined by the particular client’s mental disorder. There are some cases when a client can even choose the quantity of necessary sessions (of course, light forms of psychological disorders are implied here). Thus, the length of psychotherapy is determined by the particular psychological disorder. Has old good Sigmund Freud ever ruminated about the fact how useful his psychoanalysis would be? Nobody can say for sure. But lots of people nowadays can not imagine their lives without sessions of psychotherapy. Inspiring hope to people is of paramount importance today, because hopeless person is a desperate person, hopeless person is an unhappy and discontent person and hopeless person is a dangerous person. Cure of souls is like a surgery art – it is necessary to open the mind and then extract everything harmful and negative. After this operation a long period of rehabilitation follows. Health, no matter physical or mental, should be cherished and taken care of. And it does not really matter how much time the process of recovery takes. References 1. America's Mental Health Survey (2001). National Mental Health Association,. 2. American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th Edition). Washington D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. 3. Bateman, A.; and Holmes, J. (1995). Introduction to Psychoanalysis: Contemporary Theory and Practice. Routledge. 4. Beck A.Т., Rush А., Shaw В. F.& Emery G. (1981). Kоgnitive Therapie der Depression. 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