If you are wondering whether to decide on psychotherapy, I invite you to familiarize yourself with basic information about what this process involves, what the goals of therapy can be, what its benefits are, and what a therapy session might look like.

What is psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is a long-term process and an effective method of support for people who experience life difficulties and challenges or emotional problems. Its goal may also be to support the client’s personal development, increase adaptability, and achieve harmony in life. The name itself comes from the Greek words psyche – soul, therapein – to heal. Psychotherapy not only facilitates daily functioning by alleviating symptoms and ailments (e.g., related to depressive-anxiety disorders) but also identifies the psychological roots of these problems.

What is the role of a psychotherapist?

The psychotherapist is a companion on the client’s journey through their emotional world, providing space for expressing emotions that may have previously been repressed, exploring them in the „here and now,” and building an empathetic and attentive therapeutic alliance. The therapeutic relationship itself often serves a corrective function. The therapist’s attention, kind curiosity, non-judgmental listening, and joint identification of the problem bring relief to the client. An important element is the partnership and respectful relationship between the therapist and the client. The psychotherapist also brings their feelings and reactions to the relationship and may propose various techniques or experiments that help work through unresolved or unfinished issues from the past. In the Gestalt approach, this may include experiments with corrective experiences, psychodrama, bodywork, drawing, motivational dialogue, etc.

What are the goals of psychotherapy?

The primary overall goal of psychotherapy is to increase the client’s self-awareness in relation to their emotions, goals, and motivations. During this process, the client experiences „insights,” such as recognizing behavior patterns adopted from their environment or ingrained beliefs that no longer serve them. In therapy, the client learns to make changes in these areas and, using their own resources, builds new strategies and behavior patterns that are beneficial. With these new tools for coping with difficulties, clients begin to use mature defense mechanisms, set clearer boundaries to protect themselves, positively impacting interpersonal relationships, and meeting their own needs, leading to greater life enjoyment. This also influences more appropriate and beneficial shaping of their private and professional lives. Each client can bring individual issues to sessions, and therapy goals can be highly personalized and tailored to their needs in the „here and now.”

Who is psychotherapy for?

Anyone who wants to explore their inner self and seek a deeper understanding of themselves can benefit from psychotherapy. Psychotherapy can, therefore, have a developmental goal. People who are experiencing personal crises, feeling burnout, have low self-esteem, are going through grief or divorce, have experienced bullying, are taking on new professional or family roles also seek therapy.

Therapy is also for those who are experiencing the following situations:
– Difficulty starting, procrastination, anxiety about change
– Difficulty making decisions
– Difficulty saying no and setting boundaries
– Difficulty finding a partner
– Psychosomatic illnesses and pains
– Need for change in one’s life
– Fatigue, exhaustion
– Lack of sense of meaning, lack of sense of identity
– Internal suffering, lack of life satisfaction
– Internal conflict
– Lack of acceptance of one’s body

Benefits of the psychotherapy process:

Developing stress management skills: Through psychotherapy, the client can reach hidden sources of difficulty and, by separating what was from what is happening currently, reduce stress levels. During therapy, which also has a psychoeducational element, the client can learn techniques for coping with stress and anxiety.

Increased self-acceptance: Therapy aims to identify and understand difficulties and disorders rather than judging them, making change possible. The predominance of feeling and understanding over judging relieves excessive pressure, which often immobilizes and blocks goal achievement. It also allows self-acceptance, building, and strengthening an adequate self-esteem.

Improvement of interpersonal relationships: Psychotherapy allows the exploration of behavior patterns in interpersonal relationships, including with the therapist. It can help improve communication, build healthier relationships, develop empathy, and assertiveness.

Increased awareness and self-knowledge: Understanding oneself, one’s emotions and thoughts, motivations, behaviors, strengths, limitations, weaknesses, fears, and life goals. During psychotherapy, issues that have never been sufficiently experienced, named, or accepted come to light, promoting the development of thinking, feeling, and trust in oneself.

Problem-solving: During therapy sessions, the client and therapist work together to identify and resolve current difficulties, helping the client better understand an aspect of the situation and look at it from different perspectives.

How does a psychotherapy session proceed?

A psychotherapy session lasts 50 minutes and can take place in person or online. Meetings are scheduled once a week, allowing for regular support and continuation of the therapeutic process. Both the therapist and the client are engaged during the sessions.

Typical course of therapy sessions:

1. Starting: The client and therapist discuss organizational matters and then focus on identifying the goal for the session.
2. Sharing: This is a time for the client to openly share what is important to them – experiences, thoughts, and emotions.
3. Exploration: During the session, various aspects of the client’s life and experiences are explored together, paying attention to thoughts, emotions, and reactions.
4. Understanding and reflection: Working together to understand what lies at the root of the client’s difficulties and identify potential solutions. This may also involve deeper insight and assimilation of the experience.
5. Setting goals: The next step is to define specific therapeutic goals that the client wants to achieve and develop strategies to help them accomplish these goals.
6. Summary and planning:

The session concludes with a summary of what the client gained from the meeting and possible planning of actions outside the therapy room.

Does psychotherapy work?

Depending on the type of difficulties and the length of the therapy process, the noticeable effects can be very individual for each client. However