Individual Psychotherapy is a therapeutic process, which promotes mental stability, personal well-being and self-satisfaction. In this process, the psychologist helps the patient to clarify and know their way of functioning, as well as their own difficulties and to find solutions and new strategies to deal effectively with them.
These changes, which allow for personal development, enable the person to live more coherently with their values and, consequently, to feel greater satisfaction in their daily lives. Thus, the patient and his/her individuality have a central role in this healing process.
Individual Psychotherapy can be performed in several age groups:
What therapeutic approaches do we use?
Different therapeutic approaches may be used depending on personal characteristics, the nature of current problems and difficulties, and even the stage of the therapy.
Therefore, the Mental Health Clinic Isabel Henriques psychologists use different approaches such as:
- Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is a long process, which aims at deep understanding of the patient, and works with the conscious and unconscious processes of the patient, stressing the importance of internal conflicts in childhood for psychological functioning in adulthood. In Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, the psychologist maintains a posture of empathy, non-judgment and understanding, listening carefully to the patient and giving back his/her interpretation, in order to transform the patient’s emotions and experiences.
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is a shorter, more specific approach that works with the relationship between thoughts, emotions and behaviors. This therapy assumes that what affects us is the way we interpret and think about the situations and not the situations or events. Thus, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy proposes the identification of distorted beliefs and automatic thoughts, the analysis of their influence on emotions and behaviors, as well as the learning of strategies to gradually change these distorted thoughts and replace them with more useful ones.
- Third Generation Therapies, based on mindfulness and compassion, invite the patient to adopt a posture of curiosity, acceptance and non-judgment towards their inner experiences (thoughts, emotions and sensations), even if they are painful. These therapies aim to change the way the person relates to inner experiences (and not change the inner experience itself). This process of change is based on a relationship of acceptance and understanding between the psychologist and the person, in which the psychologist assumes that his/her mind and that of the person in front of him/her are identical.
- Supportive Psychotherapy is a specific intervention approach that focuses on giving psychological support and assistance in solving specific problems, aimed at improving the patient’s psychic functioning/balance or strengthening his/her psychic defenses, by adopting measures and strategies that allow the relief of symptoms. This therapy can be useful in situations such as temporary crises, trauma or disasters (e.g., illnesses, family crises, unemployment, etc.), as well as chronic deficits or serious disturbances. The psychologist maintains a relationship of support and security with the patient, taking an active stance, responding to doubts and sharing his/her positions.