An Insight into Modern Psychotherapy Services and Their Objectives
The term “psychotherapy services” is used to describe numerous different practices, but all have one feature in common: to address problems of a psychological or, if you prefer, emotional nature that may be adversely affecting the life of an individual or of that shared collectively by a couple, a family or other group of connected individuals. The root causes of such problems are as diverse as their manifestations yet, perhaps not too surprisingly, most of these remain much the same as those that took their toll on the emotional wellbeing of previous generations.
Grief, illness, physical or mental abuse, unemployment, debt or marital difficulties, when prolonged and unresolved, are just a few life experiences with the capacity to drain the energy and the will of those subjected to them. Furthermore, wherever one of these factors may occur others will invariably follow, adding even further to overall stress levels. The nature of psychotherapy services, however, has changed over the years and there is now a range of alternative therapies upon which a therapist may draw when planning the most appropriate course of treatment with which to meet the specific needs of his or her patient.
Compared to medicine, the treatment of emotional disorders is a relatively young science with its origin in the 19th century. The evolution from early psychoanalytic practices has been rapid and the range of methods in use today numbers in the hundreds. Most modern treatments involve conversation, although some rely upon other forms of communication and may, instead, depend more upon art, drama, narrative, music or the written word. Role play is a procedure which, along with drawing, has proved to be particularly successful in identifying and resolving emotional issues among young children.
Those providing psychotherapy services often favour a relatively limited selection of approaches which, in their hands, proves to be most effective. Among those most widely favoured are those described by the umbrella term, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) that includes Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) and Cognitive Therapy which assume a causative relationship between our thoughts (cognition) and the way we feel (emotion). Treatment is then based upon assisting the patient, through counselling, to develop the thought patterns that result in more positive emotional outcomes.
Dr Tienie Maritz is a highly qualified, Pretoria-based practitioner with extensive experience, not just of these approaches but also, of the many other evidence-based practices that, collectively, form the basis of modern psychotherapy services.
Among the patients whose needs Dr Maritz addresses are the victims of the growing incidence of traumatic incidents in South Africa such as rape, hijacking and other violent crimes often characterised by their long-term aftereffects. No less traumatic however can be the relationship conflicts that, unresolved, can lead to divorce and the general collapse of a family that, inevitably, takes its toll upon each of its members. Various forms of addiction and substance abuse, panic and anxiety, dealing with grief or simply coping with the responsibilities of a single parent can all culminate in intolerable stress that, despite all, may be alleviated through professional counselling designed to help their victims develop effective coping strategies.
Tienie has ensured, through his rates and payment options, that his psychotherapy services are as accessible as they are effective.
