The stereotype of the mental health patient lying on a coach talking to a psychiatrist in a room filled with books is not as far off as you might think. Modern psychotherapists don’t necessarily ask you to lie down, nor are they always psychiatrists. Psychiatrists are the ones who prescribe drugs like anti-depressants and anti-psychotics to patients, whereas psychotherapists are the ones that actually talk to them about their problems, in a process called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
Socratic Philosophy
CBT has its historical roots closely aligned with classical philosophy. In ancient Greece, philosophy was seen as a means to reach a ‘good’ or ‘meaningful’ life. For Socrates at the root of all human action was the search for eudaimonia, loosely translated as ‘happiness’ or ‘wellbeing’. Concepts in eastern religious traditions, such as the Buddhist concept of enlightenment, or in modern psychology concepts such as Abraham Maslow’s self-actualization status within his hierarchy of needs may be seen as close analogies to this. Whatever you may call it, the principle remains to be: to reach for a state of psychological fulfilment by way of application of one’s intellect. Ultimately, many philosophers are of the mindset that while physical resolutions to problems may be a matter of action, psychological resolutions to internal turmoil are a matter of applied perspective. In other words, if the problem is how the patient sees something, then that is what the psychotherapist will explore through dialogue.
Logic Based Therapy
The basic theory behind CBT is that valid logical deduction may still lead to self-defeating conclusions if the premises (the ideas that they’re based on) are themselves self-defeating. To understand turmoil of the mind, one must first understand the patient’s fundamental motivators. For example, say the patient is suffering from a neurodegenerative disease like dementia, Parkinson’s or motor neuron disease. The physical symptoms of such conditions may be difficult to treat, although, according to bioxcellerator.com, this may now be possible via stem cell technology. Nevertheless, the patient may suffer from poor emotional regulation, the result of cognitive impairments as a result of neural connections being compromised. This may lead to a sense of personal failure on behalf of the patient. The therapist will then break down this thought process logically in the mind of the patient and may pin the root cause on the belief that an inability to look after others is a form of moral weakness. The therapist will then ask the patient to reflect on why this belief is upheld, especially if this isn’t reflective of reality, as the patient did not choose to contract the disease, and therefore, there is no personal failure on their behalf in such a situation.
Why Psychotherapists Do This
CBT aims to mitigate the symptoms of mental health disorders by challenging thoughts of beliefs that lead to a problematic lack of emotional regulation, as well as to develop coping strategies in a problem-solving context. This often takes the form of breaking down self-defeating beliefs, upon which self-destructive thought processes are based, on the grounds of logical contradiction or a lack of empirical evidence to support them. Psychotherapy, like physiotherapy, may be strenuous and difficult and so it is not a magic wand, but it may be highly beneficial to the patient by making them more aware of why they think the way they do, and thus place them in a better position to develop coping strategies and therefore function more effectively.
