PSYCHOTHERAPY : treatment of mental disorders and behavioral disturbances using verbal and nonverbal communication, including such psychological techniques as support, suggestion, persuasion, reeducation, reassurance, and insight, in order to alter maladaptive patterns of coping, relieve emotional disturbance, and encourage personality growth. It is usually contrasted with therapies involving physical interventions, such as drug or convulsive therapies

• psychology : that branch of science which deals with the mind and mental processes, especially in relation to human and animal behavior.
• abnormal psychology : the study of mental disorders and behavior disturbances.
• analytic or analytical psychology : the system of psychology founded by Carl Gustav Jung, based on the concepts of the collective unconscious and the complex.
• animal psychology : the study of the mental activity of animals.
• child psychology : the study of the development of the mind of the child.
• clinical psychology : the use of psychologic knowledge and techniques in the treatment of persons with mental, emotional, behavior, and developmental disorders.
• cognitive psychology : that branch of psychology which deals with how the human mind receives and interprets impressions and ideas.
• community psychology : the application of psychological principles to the study and support of the mental health of individuals in their social context.
• comparative psychology : the study of behavior using a comparison of species as a source of knowledge.
• criminal psychology : the study of the mentality, the motivation, and the social behavior of criminals.
• depth psychology : the study of unconscious mental processes.
• developmental psychology : the study of changes in behavior that occur through the life span.
• dynamic psychology : psychology that stresses the causes of and motivations for behavior.
• environmental psychology : study of the effects of the physical and social environment on behavior.
• experimental psychology : the study of mental operations and behaviors by the employment of controlled laboratory procedures.
• behavioristic psychology / behaviorism : a school of psychology founded by John B. Watson that regards as the subject matter of psychology only overt actions capable of direct observation and measurement and ignores unobservable mental events such as ideas and emotions.
• gestalt therapy : this psychotherapy aims to help the client achieve wholeness (gestalt is the German word for "whole") by becoming fully aware of his or her feelings, perceptions, and behavior. The emphasis is on the "here and now" of immediate experience rather than on the past. Gestalt therapy is often conducted in group settings, such as weekend workshops.
• gestalt psychology / gestaltism / gestalt theory : that theory in psychology which claims that the objects of mind, as immediately presented to direct experience, come as complete, unanalyzable wholes or forms (Gestalten) that cannot be split up into parts
• individual psychology : Alfred Adler's psychological theory that stresses the role of compensation for feelings of inferiority as the source of psychological and interpersonal problems.
• physiologic or physiological psychology : the branch of psychology that studies the relationship between physiologic and psychologic processes.
• social psychology : psychology that focuses on social interaction, on the ways in which actions of others influence the behavior of an individual.
• ego analysis : in a psychoanalytic treatment, the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the ego, especially its defense mechanisms against unacceptable unconscious impulses
• transactional analysis : a type of psychotherapy based on an understanding of the interactions (transactions) between patient and therapist and between patient and others in the environment. It focuses primarily on ego states, principally the Parent, Adult, and Child.
• psychoanalysis / psychoanalytic psychotherapy : a therapeutic technique based on Freud's theory, focusing on the influence of such unconscious forces as repressed impulses, internal conflicts, and childhood trauma on the mental state. The therapist elicits from patients past emotional experiences and their role in influencing current mental life, so as to delineate the conflicts and mechanisms by which their pathologic mental state has been produced and furnish hints for psychotherapeutic procedures; the method employs free association, recall and interpretation of dreams, and interpretation of transference and resistance phenomena.
• transference : in psychotherapy, the unconscious tendency to assign to others in one's present environment feelings and attitudes associated with significant persons in one's early life, especially the patient's transfer to the therapist of feelings and attitudes associated with a parent. The feelings may be affectionate (positive transference) or hostile (negative transference).
• countertransference / counter transference : a transference reaction of a psychoanalyst or other psychotherapist to a patient, i.e., an emotional reaction that is generally a reflection of the analyst's own inner needs and conflicts but also may be a reaction to the client's behavior
• brief psychotherapy : any of numerous forms of psychotherapy limited to a preagreed number of sessions, generally 10 to 20, or termination date; most types are active and directive, and many are oriented toward a specific problem or symptom
• brief dynamic psychotherapy (BDP)
• brief psychotherapy for stress-response syndromes (BPSRS)
• cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
• dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
• interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT)
• short-term anxiety-provoking psychotherapy (STAPP)
• short-term dynamic psychotherapy (STDP)
• supportive-expressive (SE) psychotherapy
• time-limited psychotherapy (TLP)
• time-limited dynamic psychotherapy (TLDP)
• existential psychotherapy : that based on the existential philosophy of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Jaspers, etc., in which the emphasis is on present interactions and feeling experiences rather than on rational thinking.
• interpersonal psychotherapy : a form of brief psychotherapy that treats mood disorders by addressing interpersonal problems, emphasizing that the mood disorder is a medical illness and focusing on healing current relationships in a specific problem area in the here and now.
• supportive psychotherapy : that aimed at reinforcing a patient's defenses, relieving immediate crises or acute disequilibria, reducing symptoms to a premorbid level, and promoting the healthy aspects of the patient, without probing emotional conflicts or trying to alter the basic personality. Specific methods include advice; guidance; reassurance; desensitization; art, music, or dance therapy; and occupational therapy.
• complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)
• cinema therapy :
• chromotherapy
• clown therapy :
• crystal healing or therapy / gem therapy : uses crystals, each selected for specific characteristics or wavelength, to treat a wide range of mental and physical conditions. This approach is based on the belief that the body has an energy field that can be influenced by the placement of crystals on specific body points.
• electrocrystal therapy was developed by the British inventor Harry Oldfield in the 1980s. This technique involves the use of an electromagnetic generator attached to conducting tubes filled with specific types of crystals. These tubes are applied to the body, and energy is transmitted through them. It is proposed that various types of crystals in these tubes have different effects on the body. An electronic device may also be used that is said to be able to detect areas of energy imbalance of the body. These areas may then be treated with electrocrystal therapy.
Crystal therapy is proposed to assist with physical, emotional and spiritual balance and healing. According to Tantric texts, there are a number of points in the body from which our psychic forces flow. These are called "chakra points." Different hypotheses exist on the actual number (7 is the most common) and location of points. The term chakra comes from the Sanskrit cakram, meaning wheel or circle. In crystal therapy, crystals of appropriate color and energy may be placed at specific chakra points on the body with the aim to energize and cleanse. Electrocrystal therapy is proposed to work by rebalancing the energy field to promote better health. The safety and effectiveness of these techniques have not been thoroughly tested scientifically. There is no evidence for this technique. There are not a sufficient number of reports available identifying the uses of crystal therapy or electrocrystal therapy. Crystal therapy is generally believed to be safe for most individuals. Electrocrystal therapy uses electromagnetic fields and electrical equipment. Safety has not been thoroughly studied, and therefore the risks are not clear. Because these techniques are not well-researched, neither should be used as the sole treatment (in place of more proven approaches) of a severe illness. Do not delay consultation with an appropriate health care provider for a potentially serious symptom or condition. Crystal therapy and electrocrystal therapy are used for a wide variety of conditions. These techniques have not been thoroughly studied scientifically. Safety and effectiveness are not known. Although crystal therapy may be safe, it should not be relied on as the sole treatment for potentially dangerous conditions. You should discuss crystal therapy or electro-crystal therapy with your primary health care provider before starting.
• hippotherapy :
• musicotherapy / melotherapy / music therapy : singing, playing instruments, or listening to music
• pet therapy : humans may have had pet cats as long as 9,500 years ago - long before the Egyptians deified their feline companions. Archaeologists have found a kitten's grave 40 centimetres from a human burial site in Cyprus, showing the animal's special status. Feline figurines have been found from around the same time. Dogs became fast friends with mankind long before that - companion burial sites date from as long as 12,500 years ago.
• behavior therapy or modification / conditioning therapy : a therapeutic approach in which the focus is on the patient's observable behavior, rather than on conflicts and unconscious processes presumed to underlie his maladaptive behavior. This is accomplished through systematic manipulation of the environmental and behavioral variables related to the specific behavior to be modified; operant conditioning, systematic desensitization, token economy, aversive control, flooding, and implosion are examples of techniques that may be used in behavior therapy
• aversion or aversive therapy : a form of behavior therapy using aversive conditioning, pairing undesirable behavior or symptoms with unpleasant stimulation in order to reduce or eliminate the behavior or symptoms
• shaping / successive approximation : an operant conditioning technique used in behavior therapy in which new behavior is produced by providing reinforcement for progressively closer approximations of the final desired behavior
• behavior analysis : Skinner's model for examination and prediction of the behavior of individuals in the environment based on theories of operant and respondent conditioning and social learning and depending on observation
• cognitive behavior therapy : a directive form of psychotherapy based on the theory that emotional problems result from distorted attitudes and ways of thinking that can be corrected. Using techniques drawn in part from behavior therapy, the therapist actively seeks to guide the patient in altering or revising negative or erroneous perceptions and attitudes
• token economy : a program of treatment in behavior therapy, usually conducted in a hospital setting, in which the patient may earn tokens by engaging in appropriate personal and social behavior, or lose tokens by inappropriate or antisocial behavior; tokens may be exchanged for tangible rewards (food snacks, clothing, etc.) or for special privileges (watching television, passes to leave the hospital, etc.).
• client-centered therapy : a form of psychotherapy in which the emphasis is on the patient's self-discovery, interpretation, conflict resolution, and reorganization of values and life approach, which are enabled by the warm, nondirective, unconditionally accepting support of the therapist, who reflects and clarifies the patient's discoveries
• combined therapy : psychotherapy in which the patient sees the same therapist for both individual and group therapies concurrently.
• conjoint therapy : that in which a patient is involved in both group and individual psychotherapy concurrently, seeing separate therapists for each
• group therapy or psychotherapy : a form of psychotherapy in which a group of people meet regularly with a group leader, usually a therapist. The group uses therapeutic forces within the group, interactions between members, and the interventions of the trained leader to achieve insight into the cause of problems, provide emotional support, or effect changes in maladaptive behavior, thoughts, or feelings of the individual members. Women generally have better outcomes in both supportive and interpretive short-term group therapy relative to men, while men are less committed to their therapy groups and are perceived by other group members to be less compatible than women.
• family therapy : group therapy of the members of a family, exploring and improving family relationships and processes, understanding and modifying home influences that contribute to mental disorder in one or more family members, and improving communication and collective, constructive methods of problem solving
• marital or couples therapy : a type of family therapy aimed at understanding and treating one or both members of a couple in the context of a distressed relationship, but not necessarily addressing the discordant relationship itself. Courting couples tend to ignore negative statements and pay more attention to positive remarks. Once married, this trend often reverses, although couples that remain together into their sixties retain this outlook.
• marriage therapym : a subset of marital therapy that focuses specifically on the bond of marriage between 2 people, enhancing and preserving it.
• emotionally focused therapy : a form of marital therapy in which the couple increases intimacy and improves their relationship by each assessing, acknowledging, and expressing their underlying emotions and unmet feelings and needs.
• behavioral marital therapy (BMT) : a form of marital therapy using principles and techniques from behavior therapy; it attempts to alleviate marital distress by increasing positive, pleasant interactions between the members of a couple
• psychodrama : a form of group psychotherapy in which patients dramatize their own or assigned life situations in order to achieve insight into personalities, relationships, conflicts, and emotional problems, and to alter faulty behavior patterns.
• group analysis : group therapy in which interpretation is given to the patients and insight is evoked on the basis of the communication and interactions occurring within the group
• corrective parenting psychotherapy : this form of group psychotherapy aims to help clients resolve past emotional trauma that may underlie current life problems. Practitioners support clients in directing toward the practitioners themselves feelings that were originally directed toward significant figures from childhood, and in working through those feelings. Techniques may include regression, role playing, psychodrama, contracting for behavioral change, and bodywork or movement.
• milieu therapy : treatment, usually in a psychiatric hospital, that emphasizes the provision of an environment and activities appropriate to the patient's emotional and interpersonal needs.
• Morita therapy : a school of psychotherapy originating in Japan, based on the essential elements of conduct in Zen Buddhism. It emphasizes the combating of egocentricity and the correction of alienation from nature.
• play therapy : a method of psychotherapy used in treating children, in which play is used to a considerable extent as the means of communication between the child and therapist, enabling self-expression and the revealing of unconscious material
• primal therapy : psychotherapy in which the patient is encouraged to relive his early traumatic experiences and so relieve the painful emotions with which they are associated
• inner child : in this form of psychotherapy, clients imagine their return to childhood experiences (traumatic or otherwise), with the goal of healing and resolving present psychological problems that may issue from the past.
• paradoxical intention : the hypothesis that struggling against one's mental symptoms only exacerbates them whereas invoking them deliberately may do the opposite; used as a form of psychotherapy in which the behavior or feelings to be avoided are commanded to be performed or felt.
• association : in psychiatry, a connection between ideas or feelings, especially between conscious thoughts and elements of the unconscious, or the formation of such a connection
• dream associations : emotions or thoughts associated with previous dreams, as developed by the patient in psychoanalysis
• free association : a psychoanalytical method in which the patient is encouraged to describe the association of thoughts and emotions as they arise spontaneously during the analysis.
• autotherapy : self-cure
• psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)
• suggestion therapy : a form of psychotherapy characterized by suggestion, reassurance, and sometimes also ...
• hypnology : the scientific study of sleep or hypnosis : a state of altered consciousness, usually artificially induced, characterized by focusing of attention, heightened responsiveness to suggestions and commands, suspension of disbelief with lowering of critical judgment, the potential of alteration in perceptions, motor control, or memory in response to suggestions, and the subjective experience of responding involuntarily. Humans like to comply; they don't like to be embarrassed : but underneath the coercion used by charismatic stage acts, a physiological effect is occurring. Those who are easily hypnotized during both the stage and therapeutic varieties show different activity in a brain region called the anterior cingulate gyrus if MRI scanned while they tackled a problem called the Stroop task (from John Ridley Stroop), a test of mental flexibility that requires subjects to categorize a list of colours presented in a different colour - the word 'green' printed in blue, say - depending either on the name or the actual colour. In a hypnotic trance, the function of this region may be impaired, he says, meaning that subjects are more likely to follow a hypnotist's suggestion. This is consistent with the idea that those who are easiest to hypnotize tend to describe themselves as generally letting go of their inhibitions quite easily. A region in the brain's medio-frontal cortex, close to the anterior cingulate, governs our perception of how we will feel if we take a certain course of action
• hypnotherapy : the use of hypnosis in the treatment of disease
• hypnodontics : the application of controlled suggestion and hypnosis in the practice of dentistry.
• hypnoanesthesia : induction of the anesthetic state by hypnosis
• hypnoanalysis : a method of psychotherapy in which psychoanalysis is employed in conjunction with hypnosis
• Mesmer Franz (Friedrich) Anton. German physician in France and Switzerland (1734–1815); his theory of animal magnetism was a precursor of modern hypnotism and suggestion therapy
• animal magnetism : a hypothetical force or power alleged by Mesmer to be transmitted to his subjects undergoing therapeutic hypnosis
• mesmerism : the use of animal magnetism and hypnotism as practiced by Mesmer
Therapists who swear that hypnosis can help their patients now have more evidence to back their claim. A study of brain-scan images shows that hypnosis can indeed alter cognitive activity after subjects have come out of the trance state, and that this can help them concentrate on certain tasks. Hypnotized subjects outperformed their peers at a classic test of mental focus. And scans pinpointed the area of the brain responsible for this lasting effect. Hypnotists can strongly influence the behaviour of their subjects, sometimes helping them to give up addictive substances or, in tricks performed during stage performances, bark like a dog on hearing Elvis Presley. The findings indicate a biological basis for these types of behaviour. Words can form suggestions, and suggestions can have very, very strong effects on neurological activity. To study this effect, Raz used 16 volunteers, 8 of whom were easily hypnotizable. These people would later be asked to tackle a mental challenge called the Stroop test, in which readers must name the colour in which a word is written. This is particularly tricky when the word is itself the name of a different colour. Participants should say 'blue', for example, when the word 'red' appears in blue ink. In the hypnosis sessions, which lasted on average 25 minutes, the volunteers were told that when they later heard a cue, such as a coughing sound, they would see the printed words as gibberish and only be able to focus on the ink. Researchers then brought them out of their trance state, and 10 minutes later asked them to take the Stroop test while in a brain scanner. The subjects who were suggestible to hypnosis completed the Stroop task 10% faster than their counterparts after this cue. Their brain scans showed that their anterior cingulate cortex, a region of the brain involved in planning and conflict resolution, had less activity compared with the non-hypnotized subjects. Their anterior cingulate cortices were very quiet. This conflict-resolution centre struggles to reconcile various sensory and intellectual inputs. Like when you see a cheesecake on the table and want to eat it, but remember that you can't because your doctor told you that your cholesterol is high. The images help to prove that post-hypnotic suggestions have a real biological effect. This was not social compliance, this was actually happening at the brain level. It is unclear from this study whether hypnotic suggestion could help people with other tasks that require a different type of concentration. Science is finally catching up with what we have known but lacked the technology to prove. Hypnosis might not be strictly necessary to implant instructions in the minds of very susceptible people. Perhaps making repeated suggestions to them even when they're not hypnotized might have the same effects on their brain
Web resources :
• International Association of Hypno-Analysts
• American Board of Hypnotherapy
• American Psychotherapy and Medical Hypnosis Association
• American Hypnosis Association
• How hypnosis works
• biofeedback : the process of furnishing an individual information, usually in an auditory or visual mode, on the state of one or more physiological variables such as heart rate, blood pressure, or skin temperature; such a procedure often enables the individual to gain some voluntary control over the physiologic variable being sampled. A technique used especially for stress-related conditions such as asthma, migraines, insomnia, and high blood pressure, biofeedback is a way of monitoring minute metabolic changes in one's own body (e.g., temperature changes, heart rate, and muscle tension) with the aid of sensitive machines. By consciously visualizing, relaxing, or imagining while observing light, sound, or metered feedback, the client learns to make subtle adjustments to move toward a more balanced internal state.
• alpha biofeedback or feedback : a procedure in which a person is presented with continuous information, usually auditory, on the state of his brain-wave pattern, with the intent of increasing the percentage of alpha activity; this is done with the expectation that it will be associated with a state of relaxation and peaceful wakefulness
• electromyographic biofeedback : a method of muscle retraining for patients with neurological deficits; electrical activity of the muscle is recorded by electromyography and displayed on a video screen in front of the patient, accompanied by a variable audible signal, in order to monitor muscle movements.

Web resources :

• Associations : British Psychological Society (BPS)

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