A look at psychotherapy

Mertha Mo Nyamande

WE have all been born into a family that has certain belief systems and maintains certain behaviours and habits — either good or bad; healthy or unhealthy.

These belief systems may be harmful to our health in the long term, although they may seem fine at the moment.

So, psychotherapy helps an individual to become aware of unconscious habits they engage in that may cause them or others around them pain or distress. The idea of psychotherapy is not to erase or help the individual forget painful memories that have created these unhealthy attachments, but to understand what those experiences mean for them and how they can derive strength and helpful lessons that will enhance their lives and those of others.

Psychotherapy is not the same as counselling, but very similar in nature.

Counselling provides a safe space to vent our frustrations and be validated.

It also provides vital information that can make it easier to understand and accept whatever changes in our circumstances.

Psychotherapy, on the other hand, challenges us with psychological theories in order to change the corrupt or unhelpful thinking that we may have as a result of our experiences.

When we are younger, we are vulnerable and very limited in terms of cognitive functioning and how we process information.

We can get stuck with an immature way of thinking that we take into adulthood, if not challenged in a safe and supported manner.

We are essentially driven or motivated by seeking pleasure and/or avoiding pain.

How does it work?

As a people, we can get stuck in unhealthy ways of doing things due to systematic oppression or abuses that we may experience individually or as a collective. This can be going through war, a pandemic or a natural disaster, especially in cases of trauma, loss and abandonment. The healing and recovery can be hampered by systematic interventions that focus on safety but with limited impact on the development of lasting solutions. These practices may be helpful in the short term, and certain groups may find themselves stuck for various reasons.

Psychotherapy, therefore, helps explain these occurrences and highlight the vulnerabilities that may have led to problematic held beliefs.

Psychotherapy is a talk therapy that works through training the individual or group of people to practise new behaviours that will then become new habits of the mind (psychoeducation).

These are the habits that bring and maintain different thoughts, emotions and behaviours, leading to a sense of peace, calm, joy and good health.

This automatically replaces unhealthy habits. The goal of psychotherapy is to empower the individual or group to gain a deeper understanding of their problem, which makes it much easier to work out and, thereby, apply more effective and lasting solutions.

Structure of a therapeutic intervention

Psychotherapy starts with an assessment of the problem. The assessment of psychotherapy explores the life and key stages of the individual’s development and establishes where the blocks may lie, in a process referred to as “formulation”, and how those blocks impact the current problem.

In group situations, the interventions seek to understand the problem that is common to the group through a different formulation, but they largely focus on the stronger characters in the group who lead the pack. That shifting of the thinking and behaviour of the alphas lead to the group following the new shift and recovery from whatever problem.

Each therapeutic intervention can be broken down into three phases:

Phase One: check-in (15-20 minutes)

Catch-up on the week experiences and review of the previous session and homework given.

Understanding ongoing problems and setting the agenda for the session.

Phase Two

Explore theory to aid understanding of the problems (15-20 minutes).

Discussion of various theories to help explain the problem and why it still exists.

Phase Three: Check-out (15-20 minutes).

Skills training and homework.

Does psychotherapy replace medication and other therapies?

Not necessarily; psychotherapy works in collaboration with other therapies, including medication, but ultimately, psychotherapy seeks to help the individual regain control of their thoughts, behaviours and emotions to the point that they no longer require other external mechanisms to feel and be well.

It is a fallacy to believe that we take our secrets/problems to the grave; not addressing whatever problems we may have means we pass them down to our offspring to resolve.

 Advice: Talk to your doctor, who can refer you to a psychologist or psychotherapist. Alternatively, you can seek one out directly through the Allied Health Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe website.

Mertha Mo Nyamande is a psychotherapist. He can be contacted on Insightwellbeing.mo

@gmail.com or www.i-wellbeing.weebly.com