Psychotherapy – Treatment, Effects & Risks

Mental illnesses are diagnosed and treated by psychotherapists. Through the use of various therapeutic methods, current psychological suffering is alleviated in order to achieve an improvement in the quality of life.

People who need psychological support in coping with stressful situations, crises or life upheavals can activate their self-healing powers and achieve changes with psychotherapy. Through conversations, behavioral techniques or reflection methods, situations from the patient’s everyday life are evaluated and questioned.

In different exercises, new behaviors can be learned or views on people and facts can be changed and optimized. Motives and expectations of the patient are examined and modified within the therapy.

Areas of application and therapeutic goals

Psychotherapy is used to alleviate existing mental stress or to cure diagnosed mental illnesses. Typical applications include psychosomatic complaints, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and addictions. In addition, eating, personality and sexual disorders are often treated with the therapeutic method.In addition, psychotherapy can also be used for other complaints. Mental and physical suffering are directly related to each other in many patients. The connections are analyzed in therapy, so that the regeneration of the psyche can also provide physical relief of the symptoms.

In psychotherapy, everyday topics and problems from the life of the person concerned are taken up. Serious indications are emotional burdens, such as a lack of self-confidence, strong shyness or a general dissatisfaction with life or one’s own body. If there are no prospects in shaping one’s personal future or if there have been immense life changes and strokes of fate, psychological suffering can arise, which is worked out and discussed in therapy in cooperation with the patient.

The aim of psychotherapy is to clarify and resolve the concerns and needs of the person individually. The patient learns to better understand himself, his behavior and his thinking. The therapist encourages in the sessions to face the current challenges and topics and to bring about changes in one’s own situation. In therapy, new perspectives are conveyed and with the help of various psychotherapeutic techniques active work on the solution of existing conflicts or disagreements.

Diseases

• Depressions

• Anxiety

• Panic attack

• Mental disorders

• Sexual disorders

• Drug addiction

What can the patient expect?

The patient should have dealt in advance with the consequences associated with the implementation of therapy. Often there is a restructuring of existing life processes or changes within existing social relationships. Even if an improvement in the quality of life and alleviation of psychological complaints is achieved, it is important to know that psychotherapy can lead to upheavals in habitual processes or interpersonal connections.

The willingness to self-reflect as well as to change one’s own cognitions or behavioral patterns are prerequisites for the successful achievement of the therapy goal. Openness, honesty and active cooperation on the part of the patient are essential for a trusting atmosphere. Before starting therapy, it should therefore be checked whether the selected psychotherapist is the right contact person for a trusting relationship.

Therapy can be embarrassing, painful or frightening. In order to be able to achieve the desired goal, it is necessary for the patient to be able to confide in the therapist. If there are uncertainties about this after the first appointment, it is advisable to take advantage of further introductory talks before the start of psychotherapy. In these probationary sessions, the methods used and their procedures can also be discussed and open questions can be clarified. A treatment plan is drawn up and the effects of psychotherapy are explained.

The patient should be told beforehand that therapy takes a certain amount of time and that the possible solutions must be tried out step by step. Most mental illnesses have developed over a long period of time and as a result of various events. This must be understood so that certain work steps can bring about a lasting improvement.

course of therapy

The treatment depends on the goal of the therapy. In cooperation with the therapist, a realistic treatment goal is worked out on the basis of the problems and the illness. Depending on the existing goal, the methods and techniques used are discussed. If there are changes or current events during the therapy, the goal and the methods can be adapted and optimized at any time.

In consultation with the patient, weekly tasks can be assigned that the patient should complete. Verbal exchange is the focus of therapy. Events are reflected on, new behaviors are tried out and thought models are played through. The focus of the work is carried out according to the chosen method.

In Behavioral Therapy , the causes of the symptoms are less determined. The focus is on the analysis of current behavioral patterns and possible new behavioral ideas. In a depth psychological treatment, on the other hand, memories of events are discussed in detail and emulated. Emotions and feelings should be relived in therapy in order to experience healing.

Psychotherapy asks about expectations, motives for behavior and deals with the experience. In doing so, the patient, supported by the therapist, considers possible belief patterns, educational models and social guidelines. Restrictions that are experienced as a burden, lack of courage or fear of certain situations should be resolved in a permanent exchange with the therapist.

The therapy can take place in a practice in a relaxed and quiet atmosphere, but can also be connected by looking for fear-inducing situations. The patient’s emotional world is the central theme of each session. There is a discussion of one’s own feelings, which are reflected and consciously questioned in many steps. At the beginning of therapy, the patient is given an idea of his illness. He is informed about the clinical picture in order to better understand himself and his perception.

In the next phase, the existing problems are dealt with. Solutions are developed, tested and, as soon as necessary, adapted and expanded. In the final sessions, the patient slowly breaks away from the close collaboration with the therapist. He learns possibilities and strategies that he can use independently after the therapy.

Self-service or health insurance – who will bear the costs?

The assumption of costs for psychotherapy depends on the type of health insurance the patient has. In addition, the patient always has the option of taking on the therapy himself. In these cases, an invoice is created after each session, which the patient pays. A statutory health insurance fund will cover the costs of treatment as soon as an application has been made, checked and approved. The application form is filled out together with the psychotherapist.

In addition, the psychotherapist must prepare a report justifying the need for therapy. The report will be reviewed by a reviewer. In the case of short-term therapy, the expert opinion is often dispensed with. With private health insurance, the patient must check individually which services are covered by the health insurance company. As soon as the cost coverage is included in the contract, an application must also be submitted and a report from the psychotherapist must be prepared.

Risks, dangers and side effects

No psychotherapy can promise the desired success. In the worst case, the existing symptoms worsen and new symptoms develop. If the relationship of trust between the therapist and the patient is not sufficient or is disturbed during therapy, this has a direct impact on the course of therapy.

The existing underlying disease can be responsible for the fact that it is not possible to alleviate the symptoms. In some patients, it is only during the course of therapy that it becomes apparent which disease or diseases are present.

If the patient is only slightly interested in a cure or if the lack of insight into the illness is part of the clinical picture, no successful therapy can take place. If the relationship between the patient and the therapist becomes too intimate, it is also not possible to work optimally to achieve the goals.