Brief psychotherapy helps turn negatives into positives

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Published: November 5, 2009

Are family doctors trained to do this? Is it possible that the therapy could do any harm to me emotionally? Would it be better for me to see a psychologist? The problem with that is that it costs money and talking to my general practitioner is free.

Some of these conditions do respond to medications such as antidepressants and tranquillizers, but others may be better treated with psychotherapy, also known as talking treatment, or a combination of pills and therapy.

Some, but not all, general practitioners are interested in psychiatry and psychotherapy and take extra training and courses in the different types of psychotherapy treatments.

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The ones that are not inclined to offer the service themselves can refer you to a psychiatrist, who is also free, or a clinical psychologist.

One type of brief psychotherapy is known as solution based psychotherapy, which involves helping patients explore their preferred futures. The therapist attempts to find out when, where, with whom and how pieces of that preferred future are already happening.

For example, he may ask, “if you woke up tomorrow and a miracle happened so that you no longer easily lost your temper, what would you see differently? What would the first signs be that the miracle occurred?” There are different versions of this miracle question.

If the patient is a child, he may respond by saying, “I wouldn’t get upset when somebody calls me names.” The therapist wants the individual to develop positive goals, which means focusing on “what is” rather than “what if” to better ensure success. Therefore, the doctor might ask, “what will you be doing instead, the next time someone calls you names?”

The standard “fairy godmother and three wishes “ question can work too, but the therapist first has to eliminate the standard answers involving health, wealth and happiness.

Some patients’ lives are like bad soap operas, but sympathy does not help. Empathy is fine, but the therapist needs to intervene by saying, “what part did you play in this situation and what could you have done differently” to preventthe usual blame game.

Sometimes it will seem that you are just having a social chat with the therapist, but this is often a useful tool for finding out about the positive and negative aspects of your lifestyle. It is sometimes known as problem free talk.

I remember spending one whole session on the subject of how to fold laundry. This sounds ridiculous to most people, but it was a major problem for the patient, who allowed the laundry to pile up for weeks and months, so that none of her family had anything to wear. This led to arguments and more stress.

On the other hand, the same person was skilled at managing the household finances. The problem was solved by getting other family members to take on the laundry task in exchange for different household chores.

Brief psychotherapy typically takes four to six sessions.

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