Psychotherapy is a type of therapy used to treat emotional problems and mental health conditions.
It involves talking to a trained therapist, either one-to-one, in a group or with your wife, husband or partner. It allows you to look deeper into your problems and worries and deal with troublesome habits and a wide range of mental disorders, including depression and schizophrenia.
Although psychotherapy is usually a talking therapy, sometimes other methods may be used. This could be art, music, drama or movement rather than talking.
Psychotherapy can help you to discuss feelings that you have about yourself and other people, particularly family and those close to you. In some cases, couples or families are offered joint therapy sessions together.
A therapist will treat sessions as confidential. This means you can trust them with information that may be embarrassing or secret.
Read more about how psychotherapy works.
What is a psychotherapist?
A psychotherapist is a mental health professional who is trained to listen sympathetically to someone’s problems in order to find out what is causing them difficulties and help find a solution. As well as listening and discussing important issues with you, a psychotherapist can suggest strategies for resolving problems and, if necessary, help you to change your attitudes and behaviour.
Some therapists teach specific skills to help you tolerate painful emotions, manage relationships more effectively or improve behaviour. You may be encouraged to develop your own solutions, and in group therapy the members support each other with advice and encouragement.
What is psychotherapy used to treat?
Some of the conditions that psychotherapy and other talking therapies might be used to treat include:
- depression
- anxiety disorders
- borderline personality disorder (BPD)
- obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- long-term illnesses
- eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating disorder
- substance misuse
Types of psychotherapy
There are several different types of psychotherapy that have been proven to be effective and are offered on the NHS. These are described below.
- Psychodynamic (psychoanalytic) psychotherapy is where a psychoanalytic therapist will encourage you to say whatever is going through your mind. This will help you to become aware of hidden meanings or patterns in what you do or say that may be contributing to your problems.
- Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that examines how beliefs and thoughts are linked to behaviour and feelings. It can teach skills that retrain a person’s behaviour and style of thinking to help them to deal with stressful situations.
- Cognitive analytical therapy (CAT) uses methods from both psychodynamic psychotherapy and CBT to work out how someone’s behaviour causes them problems and how to improve it through experimentation and self-help.
- Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) looks at the way in which illness can be triggered by events involving relationships with others, such as bereavements, disputes or relocation. It helps people to cope with the feelings involved as well as to work out coping strategies.
- Humanistic therapies aim to find out how someone thinks about him or her self and to create a non-judgemental, understanding environment between the person and their therapist.
- Family and marital (systemic) therapy is a type of therapy that involves other members of the person’s family and helps them to work out problems together.
Most psychotherapy treatments involve meeting a therapist regularly (usually once every week or fortnight), although it may be more often if needed. Individual sessions usually last for about 50 to 60 minutes, whereas group sessions are longer. Short-term psychotherapy may involve anything between 6 and 20 sessions.
Read more about how psychotherapy works.
How can I get psychotherapy?
The best place to start if you are interested in psychotherapy is with your GP. In 2010, the government announced plans to make psychological therapies more widely available on the NHS, as they have been recognised as effective treatments for common mental health conditions.
If your GP or another healthcare professional refers you to a qualified psychotherapist, you will receive psychotherapy through the NHS free of charge.
However, psychotherapies are not always available on the NHS, and you may need to have private treatment. A private 50-minute session can cost £35-100.
There are several professional bodies you can use to find a psychotherapist, including the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy and the UK Council for Psychotherapy.
You can also use the services directory to find counselling and psychological therapy services in your area.
Read more about the availability of psychotherapy.
