Psychology and psychotherapy

Concept of psychotherapy

 * the term psychotherapy comes from the Greek: "psyche" = soul; "therapón" = servant, to serve
 * psychotherapy uses medical sciences, psychological sciences and philosophy (ethics)
 * psychotherapy is the treatment, prophylaxis (primary prevention) and rehabilitation (tertiary prevention) of health disorders
 * psychotherapy takes place as a conscious, intentional, structured and scientifically based interaction between therapist and patient (therapeutic relationship)

General principles of psychotherapy

 * 1) Means used: words, conversation, non-verbal behavior, eliciting emotions, creating a therapeutic relationship, suggestion, learning, group interaction
 * 2) Acts on disease, disorder, anomaly
 * 3) The goal is to alleviate problems and, if possible, eliminate their causes
 * 4) There are changes in the patient's experience and behavior
 * 5) Psychotherapy is performed by a qualified person

Means of psychotherapy
There are activities that we also encounter in everyday life. They become psychotherapeutic the moment they are used professionally to help another person.


 * psychotherapeutic relationship
 * arrangement of the situation in therapy
 * imagination – spontaneous / intentional
 * learning / exercises
 * suggestion / hypnosis
 * means: verbal (conversation, identification of symptoms), non-verbal (relaxation, imagination...)

Goals of psychotherapy

 * 1) elimination of minor signs (symptoms)
 * 2) resocialization, reorganization, restructuring, development of the patient's personality (personality is transformed)
 * 3) adjustment of psychophysical conditions, elimination of symptoms, support in a crisis situation, help with adaptation to new conditions, behavior change, influence on social relationships, personality change

1) Psychoanalytic therapy (Freud)

 * based on psychoanalysis (distinguishes consciousness, preconsciousness and unconsciousness)
 * a very directive way of therapy
 * instinctive tendencies are decisive for personality development and the emergence of neuroses
 * basic drive – sexual (libido)
 * neuroses arise from conflict: superego / id / ego
 * places the greatest emphasis on childhood development
 * neurosis is caused by repressed anxiety
 * the psychoanalytic method is to reveal the repressed impulses, bring them to consciousness and bring them back under the control of the conscious self

2) Adlerian psychotherapy (Adler)

 * for every human life, it is not the sexual drive that is decisive, but the life goal (the need to integrate into society, apply oneself and assert oneself)
 * also places great importance on early childhood development
 * the family situation is important (relationships between siblings...)
 * feeling of inferiority = escape into illness p
 * main principles – get to know the patient's life plan, lead the patient to change his lifestyle, give him courage

3) Jungian therapy (Jung) Jungovská terapie (Jung)

 * divides people into introverts and extroverts
 * uncovering unconscious complexes
 * therapy consists in uncovering unconscious connections (unlike psychoanalysis, it is a friendly conversation)
 * also uses dream interpretations and active imagination

Behavioral psychotherapy (Eysenck, Wolpe)

 * behavioral disorders are learned responses
 * if neurotic behavior is learned, it must be practiced and unlearned
 * it is not a change of thinking that leads to the cure of neurosis, but a change of behavior
 * has its roots in experimental psychology
 * works with conditioned reflexes
 * uses methods of training and negative training (unpleasant stimuli and punishments)
 * it is criticized for trying to eliminate only the symptoms and not the underlying causes

Humanistic psychotherapy (Maslow)

 * it underlines the uniqueness of each personality and leads to personal growth
 * he tries to understand the inner experiences of the individual and teach him to work with these experiences
 * helps people in their spiritual growth and realization of their own potential
 * emphasis on immediacy and spontaneity

Literature used
Collective of authors, Translation: Jozef Hašto. Na problém orientovaná psychoterapia. Publisher: Vydavateľstvo F, 1994