fact files

Home Page

More information/help files

Personal Therapy

There's not a single style of therapy that is a universal cure all, whatever some therapists might try to have you believe - in other words, the type of therapy that is suitable for you will need to be suitable for working with whatever is wrong with you. In this article, we're going to have a look at five of the most popular therapies for working with the affairs of the human mind - but that doesn't mean that other methodologies might not also be effective.

The five we will look at, in order, are:

• Psychotherapy - well-established and structured
• Hypnotherapy - older than you might think and potentially powerful
• Hypnoanalysis - a therapy that seeks to get to the 'roots' of a problem
• Meridian Therapies - apparently modern but involving ancient 'acu points'
• Counselling - one of the most well-known of 'talking therapies'

Psychotherapy

This is becoming more popular and carries less 'stigma' than it used to as it becomes recognised that 'normal' people can benefit greatly, and no longer have to continue to suffer emotional problems.

Whether face-to-face, via webcam or some other online setting, or by telephone (and telephone or online work can be amazingly effective) psychotherapy is, simply, therapy for the psyche, or mind. Really, anything that is designed to help you feel more relaxed and less anxious/worried can be classified as psychotherapy but it generally refers to a specific stye of working. For the most part, psychotherapy is what is known as 'client-centered', in that whatever is done and whatever the style employed, it takes account of your particular personality traits and the way you see the world, as well as the outcome that you desire, rather than what the therapist thinks is best for you. It certainly doesn't involve the therapist or anybody else seeking to impose a set of 'rules for life', rules that they consider to be correct or appropriate - though they might well help you to discover how you want to be if you don't already know.

Psychotherapy is one of the 'talking cures', relying on a positive rapport and interaction between you and the therapist; so the more information the therapist is able to gather, the faster and more effective the therapy will be, providing relief from the problem the client is suffering sooner than if they decided to say as little as possible.

Online psychotherapy, surprisingly, can be just as effective is attending one-to-one sessions. It also has the distinct advantage of not requiring a visit to the therapist's office, as well as not requiring you to be able to 'look somebody in the eye' while discussing what might sometimes be quite intimate issues. Without doubt, though, there are some instances where face-to-face therapy is almost essential if true success is to be found and a professional therapist will be able to advise you accordingly within just a few moments of discussing your difficulty.

It's worth the recognition that there really is no need for embarrassment or discomfort while talking about your problem - by the time they have finished their training and completed their exams, a therapist has 'heard it all' many times and will have become completely non-judgmental. Much of the time, they will work as a kind of mentor to help you discover your own resources to deal with your problems.

The term 'psychotherapy' is really a kind of 'blanket' description that covers many different disciplines, of which most therapists use a mix of several. Here are some of the differnt styles of work that might be used:

EMDR is another style of working, though is less well-known (in the UK at any rate) and means 'Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprogramming', and you might also hear about 'Interactve Guided Imagery' and 'Creative Visualisation'

Of those listed above, Parts therapy is perhaps the most flexible and can be used in the therapist's office, over the 'phone, or with other forms of online therapy. This style of working is based upon a simple and undeniable fact: when we have a problem, it almost always is because one part of our minds wants to do some particular thing while another part of the mind does not. For instance:

, often, one of the 'Parts' is invisible to conscious thought and is a subconscious process. The conflict that arises usually results in some kind of stress, anxiety or other emotional discomfort. The biggest problem is that the individual who is experiencing it has no idea at all of why they feel so ill-at-ease, because it just seems like a stress reaction that isn't really connected to anything at all.

Each of the different styles of work shown in the list has its own 'best work', its own strengths and it is up to the therapist to decide which will be the most likely to achieve a good result in the shortest time, commensurate with the best chances of getting rid of the symptoms. Here are two important points:

This article doesn't seek to provide an in-depth study of each type of therapy. Instead, it seeks to give you an overview to allow you to research more effectively than you might otherwise have been able to.

Hypnotherapy

Often maligned, sometimes feared, occasionally dismissed as 'fake', hypnotherapy has helped millions of people all over the world to overcome their problems in life. It's not new, having been around for some 5000 years or more, and is fast, safe, drugs-free, and absent of any unwelcome side effects. It doesn't actually feel like anything special when you are in the state of hypnosis - just relaxed and usually sharply focussed, though some people find themselves 'drifting' as though in a day-dream. Although nobody really knows exactly why it works (it is generally assumed that it allows the therapist to communicate with the client's subconscious), there is no doubt whatsoever that it does!

It's not magical or mysterious (though there are plenty of people who would like you to think otherwise!) and the hypnotherapist doesn't have any special 'gift' or special personality. In fact, the vast majority of hypnotherapists are almost boringly 'normal'! So much so, that pretty much anybody can learn to be a hypnotherapist, though there are those who excel, just as there are in any field of work.

There are so many myths surrounding the use of hypnosis, all of them without foundation, created predominantly by those who love sensationalism, or sometimes by misunderstanding the process. You cannot 'lose your mind' and you cannot 'get stuck' or fall under the spell of the hypnotist in some way. You are, in fact, totally aware at all times, and would not therefore 'blurt out' your dark secrets or do anything that you did not want to do. It often surprises people to discover that you can actually lie in hypnosis just as well as you can in your 'normal' state... or maybe even better!

Now, you might be raising an eyebrow at this point, wondering about those stage shows you have seen... well, those people are volunteers who know exactly what they are letting themselves in for and are more than willing to 'play the game'.

What you think you see on a stage show overlooks a very important point - we only have the hypnotised individual's word for what they see or do not see, what they feel or do not feel.The fact is that some people can go so deeply into hypnosis if they want to that they can have surgical procedures carried out with no aneasthetic, and they would be useless on a stage show, since they would be unresponsive. Others can achieve only the lightest of states and their personality - usually intellectually orientated - would mean that they also would be useless on a stage show, since they would not see the point in carrying out the hypnotists instructions.

The skilled stage hypnotist is able to tell almost at a glance who will be somewhere between those two extremes - the person who will enter hypnosis easily and thoroughly enjoy being part of the act! Afert all, they eagerly volunteered, knowning full well what sort of things are likely to happen. They know wahat they are dong, they remember it afterwards, and see no reason not to go along with it. After all, if somebody later on asks why on earth they did the things they did, they can just say: "Haven't a clue! I was hypnotised and I don't remember!" Most people will believe them, unless they have been hypnotised themselves!

Hypnosis is de-inhibiting, that is a well-established fact. But it is impossible to know what somebody would really like to do, in the depths of their imagination. There are many people who harbour an extrovert wish to show off but cannot quite manage to do so in the normal way. Get them into hypnosis, though, and things change... they are not being made to do something - they are being allowed to!

One other thing worth thinking about... when somebody states that they were 'out of it', we only have their word for it and if that's true, how do they know they were? That might need a bit of thought before it makes complete sense...

To return to the concept of hypnotherapy, instead of stage hypnosis, it is really just a fast and effective alternative to the the slower 'model' of psychotherapy. There are some circumstances in which it really comes into its own, things like:

And a whole lot more besides.

Hypno-analysis

This is a specialised form of hypnotherapy in which the client does more of the talking than the therapist as a rule. The aim of this investigative style of work is to discover the underlying root cause of the symptom or problem and it is particularly useful for some of the more profound situations such as deep-seated self-worth issues, some depression, psychosexual difficulties, phobias, random panic attacks, jealousy... and it can also sometimes help physical conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, asthma, excema, migraine headaches, psoriasis and many stress-related issues.

When using this particular style of working, the therapist first helps the client to find a deeply relaxed state and then focus on the difficulty for a few moments before continuing with the investigative part of the work. There are two specific models of this work style, one of which seeks to trace a path back to when the originating cause of the problem occurred, the other seeking to explore life generally until the cause is found (which is more often than not in the formative years of childhood). Both methods are effective, though there are times when one is favoured over the other and it's the therapist's job to decide. The important thing from the client's point of view is to tell the therapist everything that comes to mind - though it is very easy to keep anything secret, this does not help the therapy very much. The client will be totally aware of all that they are saying, in total control of whether to say it or not, and will remember it all afterwards.

As you might imagine, this can sometimes be a rather intrusive style of working, more so than other styles of hypnotherapy, but many would say that it has no equal when it comes to setting an individual free from destructive behaviours and thoughts. Most people find themsleves talking quite easily and confidently about things that they have never discussed before and are usually amazed to discover that the therapist has already heard such things many times! No matter what you think is 'bad' about yourself, it is an even-money bet that many others have done the same, thought the same, and felt the same... no matter how unlikely that might seem to begin with.

Read more about Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy

Meridian Therapies

This type of therapy can seem a littel strange at first, since it usually involves tapping or pressing on meridian points (which have been used for thousands of years in Acupuncture) whilst repeating a negative statement. It can, though, be quickly effective with many problems.

b>EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and TFT (Thought Field Therapy) are the most used, EFT being the most well-known. They are actually very similar to each other, both involving tapping or pressing on specific points around the body. It is the client who does the tapping as a rule and the theory is that this interrupts the way that negative energies flow around the body. EFT uses more meridian points as a kind of 'blanket' coverage, while TFT using specific points associated with whatever symptom has been presented. Both methods have produced amazingly rapid and effective results with a great number of different issues. Phobias and fears appear to respond especially well, and this therapy can be carried out entirely be telephone, where the therapist guides you as to where to tap and what statement might be best employed while you are carrying this out.

Counselling

Probably one of the oldest of therapies, counselling retains popularity and respect. It is most effective when working with what might be termed 'everyday life' situations that are resistant to change or which are all but impossible to alter without massive upheaval.

It is not usually a brief therapy and if it is employed for situations for which it is not really designed, it can be completely ineffective. As a general rule, it works best where the client is well aware of the source of their difficulties in life but is at a loss as to how to deal with them. The counsellor will not provide the answer but will help the client towards insight, understanding, and the ability to use their own resources to sort things out effectively. It's not good for things like smoking cessation, habit control, pain management, fears of various sorts and so on. This does NOT mean it will do nothing, only that it is usually not the most effective way of working with those situations.

It is related very strongly to psychotherapy and in fact most modern psychotherapists will work in counselling mode and most modern counsellors will work in psychotherapeutic mode when the need arises.

It is fair to say that psychotherapy is more interactive, while in counselling, the counsellor might say very little - even nothing at all, some of the time. It will usually be the therapist's job to decide on the best style of work for any given situation.

If you feel that you need sa little or advice or guidance than this article has provided, contact us with your specific quistion(s) and we'll be able to help you further.