Psychotherapy Psychotherapy is a set of techniques believed to cure or to help solve behavioral and other psychological problems in humans. The common part of these techniques is direct personal contact between therapist and patient, often in the form of talking.

Psychotherapy consists of a series of techniques for treating mental health, emotional and some psychiatric disorders. Psychotherapy helps the patient understand what helps them feel positive or anxious, as well as accepting their strong and weak points. If people can identify their feelings and ways of thinking they become better at coping with difficult situations.

Psychotherapy is commonly used for psychological problems that have had a number of years to accumulate. It only works if a trusting relationship can be built up between the client and the psychotherapist (in psychology "client" can mean "patient"). Treatment can continue for several months, and even years. Psychotherapy may be practiced on a one-to-one basis, or in pairs, and even in groups. Generally, sessions occur about once a week and last one hour.
Psychotherapy is the development of a trusting relationship, which allows free communication and leads to understanding, integration and acceptance of self. It aims to increase the individual's sense of their own well-being. Psychotherapists employ a range of techniques based on experiential relationship building, dialogue, communication and behavior change and that are designed to improve the mental health of a client or patient, or to improve group relationships (such as in a family). “Informed and planed application of techniques derived from established psychological principles by persons qualified through training and experience to understand these principles and to apply these techniques with the intention of assisting individuals to modify such personal characteristics as feelings, values, attitudes and behaviors which are judged by therapist to be maladaptive”.

There are Various types of Psychotherapy:

Behavior therapy This type of therapy focuses on helping the client understand how changing his/her behavior can eventually lead to changes in how they are feeling. Emphasis is made on focusing on increasing the person's engagement in positive or socially reinforcing activities. This approach carefully measures what the client is doing and then tries to increase the probability that he/she has positive experiences. Put simply, behavior therapy aims to substitute undesirable behavior responses with desirable ones.
Cognitive therapy How we feel is determined by what we think - this is the theory behind cognitive therapy. For example, if a person has depression it may be the result of having the wrong thoughts and/or beliefs. If these faulty beliefs are corrected then the client's view of events and his/her emotional state may change for the better. According to several studies, people with depression often have erroneous beliefs about themselves - they may relate negative events to themselves without any evidence, they may see life situations in absolute terms (black and white), and they may see only the negative aspects of things and commonly distort the importance of particular events. Put simply, the way we think about things affects how we feel emotionally. Cognitive therapy's thrust is on our current thinking, behavior and communication, rather than looking into the past. The cognitive therapist works with the client to confront, or challenge the erroneous thoughts by pointing out other ways of viewing situations. By doing this it is hoped that the client's mood improves. Cognitive therapy has been found to be especially effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as this article explains. There are doubts about the effectiveness of cognitive therapy for elderly people with depression. This study, which explains that further studies are required, found that there was not enough compelling evidence showing the effectiveness of cognitive therapy for elderly patients with depression. A counseling method called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) seems to amplify tinnitus patients' quality of life, even when the volume of the noise remains the same, a study revealed. (tinnitus = ringing in the ears).
Family therapy A family therapist sees the client's symptoms in the context of the family. For example, if a client has depression, this could be because of an issue within the family, such as may be the case with a teenager whose parents are having marital problems. Cognitive therapy, behavior therapy, and especially interpersonal therapy may be employed in family therapy. Put simply, family therapy identifies family patterns that contribute to behavior disorder or mental illness - it helps family members break those habits/patterns. Family therapy generally involves discussion and problem-solving sessions with the client and his/her family - session may be in a group, in couples, or one-to-one. A family therapist may use a genorgam - this is a family tree constructed by the therapist. It looks at past relationships and events and what impact these may have had on the client's emotional state. Often, family therapy focuses on improving communication within the family - clients are taught to listen, ask questions and respond openly rather than defensively.
Interpersonal therapy Here the client's interpersonal relationships are the focus. For example, a depressed client's problem may be treated by improving his/her communication patterns - how he/she relates to others may be having an impact on his/her depression. The therapist may start by helping the client identify what his emotion is and where it is coming from. The client will also be helped in learning how to express emotions in a healthy way. For example, if a client usually responds to a feeling of being neglected by his spouse with anger and sarcasm - this results in the spouse reacting negatively. The client will learn to express his hurt and anxiety calmly, increasing the chances that the spouse will react in a more positive way.
Group therapy In group therapy there are usually between 6 to 12 clients and one therapist in a session. All the clients have related problems. The clients benefit from the therapist, and also by observing how other clients suffer and respond to feedback. Getting feedback from other people with related problems gives the clients a different perspective and is frequently helpful in triggering improvement and change. Taking part in group psychotherapy can help men who have erectile dysfunction to overcome their problem, and adding sildenafil (Viagra) to group therapy was found to be more effective than sildenafil alone, according to a team of Cochrane researchers.
Psychodynamic therapy This is also called insight-oriented therapy. It focuses on the automatic processes as they are exhibited in a person's current behavior. This type of therapy aims to increase the client's self-awareness and understanding of the impact of the past on present behavior. It enables the client to take a good look at unresolved issues and symptoms that arise from past dysfunctional relationships and exhibit themselves in the need and desire to abuse substances. Put simply, psychodynamic therapy helps people understand the roots of emotional distress, usually by exploring unconscious motives, needs and defenses.

What does psychotherapy treat?

Psychotherapy is used for treating many different problems. Some alone, and some in combination with drugs. The most commons ones are listed below:
1. Depression
2. Anxiety
3. Post-traumatic stress disorder
4.Low self-esteem
5.Anxiety disorder, including phobias
6.Emotional crises
7.Marital problems
8.Family disputes
9.Obsessive-compulsive disorder
10.Personality disorders
11.Alcoholism
12.Addiction
13.Problems stemming from child abuse
14.Behavioral problems
15.Bipolar disorder (in combination with drugs)
16.Schizophrenia (in combination with drugs)

What are the benefits of psychotherapy?

Being able to understand yourself and your personal goals and values better.
Developing skills for improving relationships.
It helps the client overcome certain problems, such as an eating disorder, depression, or anxiety.
Obtaining a solution to the problems or concerns that made the client seek therapy.