Addressing Misconceptions About Therapy and Psychological Practice
There are a few things I have been hearing and reading online about psychological practice and therapy that have been quite worrying; among them are:
Therapists dictate your goals and tell you what to do
Therapists ONLY focus on the past and all of your trauma
Therapists don’t really know how to focus on the positive and it’s a total drain
As a professional myself, we are bound by ethical standards to be able to psycho-educate and correct false claims towards our practice. These claims have been published by respected publications in the Philippines, by non-professionals. Therefore it is imperative that we address each of these.
Therapy is collaborative. Therapist and client work hand-in-hand to refine and define goals, and how to reach them.
• Therapists are trained in several (and I mean several) questioning techniques that help derive strategic problem solving.
• Your therapist trained extensively, conducted research, and has written and produced their findings academically.
• All therapists are trained in psychological assessment - are able to administer and read results of said tests to be able to determine the course of therapy.
There are several schools of thought in psychotherapy. The most popular theorist is Sigmund Freud - who postulated that there are things tied to our childhood years that dictate our behavior in adulthood. This is known as the PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH.
However, to say that this is the only form of therapy is FALSE. It is important to understand that there are other psychological theories and practices that are also used. To address psychoanalytic theory, the movement of behaviorism (social learning theory), individual psychology, and humanistic approaches came into being. They all argued that we were not bound to our pasts and that we had a hand in shaping our lives.
Today we have other theories such as the cognitive (which many of you out there subscribe to with the popular “MINDFUL MOVEMENT” and “consciousness awareness” models) and systemic that help us tackle various situations depending on the need of the client. One size does not fit all.
(Read more here: https://counseling.education.wm.edu/blog/counseling-theories-and-approaches)
The School of Positive Psychology (founded by Martin Seligman, former American Psychological Association President) was established in the 90s.
Positive Psychology “is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living” (Peterson, 2008). The school of thought was developed to be able to address the disease model of psychology - which dates back to the time of Freud. As the practice was deep in diagnosis and alert to disease, there were the likes of humanistic psychologists, like Carl Rogers who believed in showing unconditional support and positive regard towards their client. The humanistic approach saw potential in an individual. The study of Positive Psychology, however, takes an in depth look at how humans thrive and become resilient. It moves from a disease model to a resiliency framework that many - including life coaches - have subscribed to.
It is important to be properly informed about the practice of Psychology and how much history is involved in the science before we make any assumptions and derive misconceptions about the practice. Have you been to therapy before? What was your therapist’s style and approach? Do you recognize any of those mentioned above?