You can call it therapy, psychotherapy or counseling, but seeking help for life’s problems all involve the same procedures – meeting with a licensed therapist and talking about your behaviors, feelings, issues, responses and beliefs. Sometimes counseling involves treatment with medication, and other times, it’s just talk. Therapists may use interactive play or skills that focus attention on overcoming issues.

But no matter the path, the courage to confront problems is the first step to healing mental distress and problems. The key to psychotherapy is taking the time to examine the root causes of ideas, behaviors, emotions and actions that cause mental illness. Once you understand the issues, you can begin to focus on ways to avoid triggers and solve problems with confidence.

Individual psychological treatment involves a one-on-one session between therapist and patient. Group therapy involves two or more people in a setting where shared experiences and interaction are the path to healing. Then there is marital and family therapy, which involve a spouse and/or family members attempting to resolve various issues.

Which you choose is a matter of personal preference, availability and sometimes financial, but all seek the same goal: to make a better you.

Types of Therapy

Therapy has more specific forms. Psychodynamic therapy tries to work through unresolved childhood issues. The incidents that the now-adult may have faced in childhood are discussed and ways to cope are developed.