psychotherapy

/ˌˈsaɪkoʊˌθɛrəpi/

/saɪkəʊˈθɛrəpi/

Other forms: psychotherapies

Psychotherapy is a mental health treatment that usually involves talking with a trained professional. Someone who's feeling anxious or depressed might try psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy is often described as "talk therapy." Talking to a counselor or therapist about difficult feelings or thoughts can help people understand their emotions better and develop healthy coping strategies. This kind of therapy is also helpful for dealing with challenging situations like the death of a loved one, a traumatic experience, or a family conflict. Psychotherapy, coined in 1892, comes from the Greek roots psykhē, "mind or soul," and therapeia, "healing."

Definitions of psychotherapy

1. noun

   the treatment of mental or emotional problems by psychological means
   types:

   behavior modification, behavior therapy

   psychotherapy that seeks to extinguish or inhibit abnormal or maladaptive behavior by reinforcing desired behavior and extinguishing undesired behavior

   client-centered therapy

   a method of psychotherapy developed by Carl Rogers in which the client determines the focus and pace of each session

   crisis intervention

   psychotherapy that focuses on acute critical situations (depressive episodes or attempted suicides or drug overdoses) with the aim of restoring the person to the level of functioning before the crisis

   group psychotherapy, group therapy

   psychotherapy in which a small group of individuals meet with a therapist; interactions among the members are considered to be therapeutic

   hypnotherapy

   the use of hypnosis in psychotherapy

   play therapy

   form of psychotherapy for children that uses play situations for diagnosis or treatment

   analysis, depth psychology, psychoanalysis

   a set of techniques for exploring underlying motives and a method of treating various mental disorders; based on the theories of Sigmund Freud

   self-analysis

   the application of psychotherapeutic principles to the analysis of your own personality

   assertiveness training

   a method of psychotherapy that reinforces you for stating negative and positive feelings directly

   aversion therapy

   any technique of behavior modification that uses unpleasant stimuli in a controlled fashion to alter behavior in a therapeutic way; primarily used for alcoholism or drug abuse (but with little success)

   desensitisation procedure, desensitisation technique, desensitization procedure, desensitization technique, systematic desensitisation, systematic desensitization

   a technique used in behavior therapy to treat phobias and other behavior problems involving anxiety; client is exposed to the threatening situation under relaxed conditions until the anxiety reaction is extinguished

   flooding, implosion therapy

   a technique used in behavior therapy; client is flooded with experiences of a particular kind until becoming either averse to them or numbed to them

   reciprocal inhibition, reciprocal-inhibition therapy

   a method of behavior therapy based on the inhibition of one response by the occurrence of another response that is mutually incompatible with it; a relaxation response might be conditioned to a stimulus that previously evoked anxiety

   token economy

   a form of behavior therapy that has been used in some mental institutions; patients are rewarded with tokens for appropriate behavior and the tokens may be cashed in for valued rewards

   family therapy

   any of several therapeutic approaches in which a family is treated as a whole

   hypnoanalysis

   the use of hypnosis in conjunction with psychoanalysis

   type of:

   therapy

   (medicine) the act of caring for someone (as by medication or remedial training etc.)
2. noun

   the branch of psychiatry concerned with psychological methods
   synonyms: mental hygiene, psychotherapeutics

   types:

   clinical psychology

   the branch of psychology concerned with the treatment of abnormal mentation and behavior

   Freudian psychology

   the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud

   Jungian psychology

   the psychological theories of Carl Jung

   type of:

   psychiatry, psychological medicine, psychopathology

   the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders