Talking treatments
Psychological therapy is a treatment for mental illness which involves talking through your problems with a trained therapist. There are many different types of therapy which can be used for a variety of different conditions.
What is psychological therapy?
Many people find that psychological therapies, sometimes referred to as ‘talking treatments’, ‘counselling or psychotherapy’, are useful for the treatment of mental illness.
Therapy can either be used on its own or combined with medication. According to the Department of Health, psychological therapies have an important role to play in helping people with mental health problems. Psychological therapy can help towards reducing distress, symptoms and risk of harm to self or others .
Therapy has more commonly been used to deal with mild to moderate conditions such as depression and anxiety but research has indicated that some psychological therapies can be effective for more severe illnesses such as schizophrenia.
With the help of a trained professional, clients are encouraged to talk through the problems associated with their mental illness with the aim of improving their quality of life. This may be done by assisting a person to manage the symptoms of their illness (such as voices or anxiety), or look at ways of tackling negative thinking that can lead to depression.
Therapy can also allow someone explore the factors involved in making them ill in the first place and what keeps them from recovering. Therapy can also help a person deal with a specific traumatic experience such as bereavement.
Therapy is usually undertaken though one-to-one sessions with a trained therapist or can be held as a group. There are also non-talking based psychological therapies such as art therapy. The number of sessions required depends on the type of therapy, the nature of the illness and what is available if the therapy is accessed on the NHS.
