Psychotherapy is a method of treating mental health disorders by talking. Words and speech are unique to humans. While deep wounds can be opened in the human soul with words, the way to heal the soul is also through words. But psychotherapy is not a random conversation. It is a process carried out by an expert who has undergone training and supervision processes in this field, with certain theoretical foundations, goals to be achieved and scientific basis. The main purpose of psychotherapy is to express what is not expressed, to bring to consciousness what is not at the level of consciousness, and to integrate feelings and thoughts. Psychotherapists help restructure perceptions and reorganize dysfunctional life stories. Language has evolved to connect us to others and to ourselves, and this function of language is the biggest reason for healing through talking in psychotherapy.
No matter what theory it is based on, all types of psychotherapy aim to reduce suffering, minimize symptoms, and improve the client's ability to cope with stressors in his life. aims to increase. In a successful psychotherapy process, we learn to experience, understand and regulate our emotions. Psychotherapy teaches us to perceive ourselves, others, and the world in a new way. During this learning process, a new story about the "real self" is written, thanks to the interaction of the client and the therapist.
At its most basic level, psychotherapy is an interpersonal learning environment. This environment is in many ways similar to the proper upbringing of a child. No matter how old the person who comes to psychotherapy is, his childhood is touched upon during this process. If a person gets stuck in childhood experiences with intense emotional experiences, the child is taken out of that swamp together with the therapist and is supported to grow from where he left off. The things that provide the best learning environment, whether in a healthy home or a psychotherapy environment, are the ability to establish a nurturing relationship with someone who understands the person, the creation of an environment of trust, and the encouragement to face the challenges that life brings with this foundation of trust. The best learning experience occurs when the stimulus is at a moderate level. When there is too little stimulation, you go into sleep mode, and when there is too much stimulation, you don't go into fight or flight response. It causes e. Learning becomes impossible in these environments. Therapy aims to induce moderate levels of stress, as in the ideal upbringing environment. The process progresses by allowing the client to face his difficulties in the way he can handle, without putting him in a fight or flight response.
Each psychotherapy process strives to create a personal experience by targeting the following basic issues and incorporating interventions appropriate to its theoretical approach.
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Reviewing assumptions, attitudes and acceptances.
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Increasing awareness.
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Increasing the ability to evaluate reality.
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Helping to confront anxious experiences (reducing maladaptive avoidance).
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Creating changes in the negative, judgmental conversations the person has with himself. .
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Developing a new and more adaptive life story.
Therapy explores and examines behaviors, emotions, sensations and thoughts. It aims to raise awareness and integrate these different areas of human experience, so that disconnected stories can be united. In most cases, the goal of psychotherapy is the integration of thoughts and feelings. In other words, by focusing on the meaning of the automatic emotion, emotional and cognitive processes are activated, and new connections between neural networks are established in the brain. This is reflected in daily life as abandoning maladaptive behavioral patterns and choosing harmonious ones. To explain this situation with an example, when a person learns the pattern of sacrifice and burden-taking as the only way to be accepted from childhood, he will continue the same behavior pattern when he becomes an adult, even if his life scene changes. Sacrifice will be a reaction pattern that he gives automatically without thinking. However, with increasing burdens, this person will develop different symptoms when he reaches a situation where he can no longer handle his burdens and the way of coping he has acquired in the past is getting in his way today. For example, a person with this type of anxiety attacks or panic attacks may seek psychotherapy. The aim of psychotherapy is to make sense of how automatic response patterns develop, to connect the emotions and thoughts here, and to analyze the automatic reactions given. Instead, it is to enable people to develop new behavioral patterns that will evaluate today realistically. When the person reaches this point, the symptoms he/she experiences will most likely disappear. In the process, he will realize that sacrifice is not the only way to be accepted, that he can prioritize his own needs, and will be able to continue the rest of his life by finding a new path. Thus, in a successful psychotherapy process, automatic reactions that we could not understand before will gain meaning, thoughts and emotions will be integrated, and maladaptive reactions will be replaced by harmonious thoughts and emotions.
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