Lifestyle Choices

Psychological approaches work best for persons who are able and willing to describe their thoughts and feelings. In other words, they must be reasonably verbal about their problems. Many patients are so preoccupied with physical symptoms that they are unwilling to discuss their thoughts and emotions. Some are obviously anxious and or sad but deny experiencing these emotions. They will be less likely to benefit from psychological therapies. (more…)

There are hundreds of different therapies for depression, and what you decide is right for you depends as much on who you are and your own preferences as it does on how bad your depression is or what caused it. Just as there are many causes, there are also many types of treatment which are not necessarily contradictory. One sort of cause does not mean that a certain treatment is necessarily required. For instance, a depression may have been precipitated by a marital separation, but if it is severe enough to cause strong physical symptoms, initially it may be best treated physically.

On looking through the possible causes charts, you may have picked out some causes that perhaps seem relevant to you and some that really strike a chord. Perhaps you find that your early family situation provided you with very little emotional support and a poor opinion of yourself— it is possible to explore these avenues with in-depth psychotherapy , which may be useful: but you may, on the other hand, decide that this is not right for you and that you would prefer to focus more on changing your lifestyle and environment. A purist may say, “But then you are not really getting down to the nitty-gritty, the real cause“. This does not necessarily matter for two reasons: first of all, this “real” cause may be one of many, and it may not be the most important one. Secondly, it is sometimes possible to change your feelings about yourself without analyzing them, as long as you have the strength and determination to make your present environment and experiences of life different and positive. (more…)

The exploration of thoughts, feelings, tension patterns and inner attitudes, with a caring and skilful therapist can, potentially, provide any of the following:

* A channel through which you can express your thoughts and feelings in a safe and controlled setting, in which there is no criticism or negative judgement of you.

* Feed-back from a third party who has some objectivity and life experience.

* A relationship of trust with another person and the development of a greater capacity for intimacy. (more…)

Choosing a psychotherapist is not an easy task. Some of thefollowing questions and answers may help you clarify what you are looking for. The quality and integrity of your therapist is far more important than the technique used. Nevertheless, what you hope to gain from therapy is to some extent related to the technique and form that are mostappropriate for your needs.

• If you have the blues temporarily, consider supportive psychotherapy.
• If you want to go slowly and with caution, use a more analytical approach.
• If you want to go fast, find someone who is familiar with some of the alternative approaches.
• If you tend to be over-analytical, consider a technique which stresses feeling and vitality.
• If you are prone to depression (down to grey) and wish to learn how to mobilize your own body energy, consider bodywork.
• If you have long-term loss of sparkle or grey depression caused by an inhibited reaction to a life event, consider short-term explorative therapy.
• If you have loss of sparkle or grey depression caused by family problems, consider individual short-term explorativepsychotherapy, or else therapy for couples or for families.
• If you have long-term loss of sparkle or grey depression caused by a long-term attitude, perhaps relating to childhood, or personality traits predisposing towards depression, consider long-term explorative therapy.

(more…)

Reasons for psychotherapy

There are three main reasons for having psychotherapy:

1 When you have a problem, you may want to talk to somebody, without analysis or exploration. This is “supportive psychotherapy“.

2 You have a symptom or a group of symptoms which youwant to get rid of by exploring their psychological origins.Only those aspects that are directly related to the symptoms are looked at — you do not want to explore the rest of your life.This I have referred to as “short-term explorativepsychotherapy” (more…)

The most obvious reason is if you do not want to explore thoughts and feelings. Sometimes, for purely personal reasons, people do not want to explore or choose to change, and sometimes people respond to the pressure of the norm of their culture. In England it is not quite culturally acceptable to see a psychiatrist or psychotherapist or to explore feelings; this stigma often inhibits people who are, underneath, very willing to do so. In America it is perfectly acceptable to see a psychotherapist, and someone might see one who, underneath, had no interest in change at all. (more…)

Alternative Approaches and L.T.E.P.

All the alternative approaches can be used for long-term psychotherapy. The form the therapy takes is very variable. A fairly average example would be one session a week for three years, possibly combined with attending a group for group psychotherapy for one evening,every two weeks.

Advantages

A therapist who uses some of the alternative techniques may provide the following:

• A far faster process costing less time and money.
• A more effective route to self-expression.
• The possibility of exploring body, feeling and spirit as well as the intellect.
• An emphasis on being more vital rather than understanding why you are not.

(more…)

Many factors unique to women may play a role in the development of depression:

1. Adolescence: Studies show that the higher incidence of depression in females begins in adolescence, but do not overanalyse your teen daughter as there are many ‘normal’ behavioural changes that may resemble depression.
2. Stress: Stress can contribute to depression in many women. These stresses include major responsibilities at home and work, single parenthood, and caring for children and ageing parents.
3. Hormonal and reproductive stages: Researchers have confirmed that hormones do have an effect on your brain chemistry.

(more…)