Psychotherapy is a unique professional relationship between a client or patient and a formally trained, licensed psychotherapist that is established in service of clients’ mental health goals. Everyone is entitled to and should have access to means for improving their quality of life. Psychotherapy is one way that a person can do this. In psychotherapy, we focus on your mental health – thoughts and feelings that you may be aware of, and some that you may not, that trouble you or complicate daily life. Goals for optimizing your mental health may include reducing intensity or frequency of distressing thoughts or emotions, increasing your sense of internal control and mastery in the face of extreme stressors or traumatic events, examining and shifting interpersonal relationship patterns, and many other desired improvements to your quality of life. There are many different approaches, styles, and modalities that psychotherapists are trained in, and finding a “good fit” is often integral to the quality of services you will receive as a client. The psychotherapy relationship can feel vulnerable for many clients, and so being able to trust that your therapist has your best interests and a strong sense of ethical and compassionate care guiding their comments and questions is critical to your comfort.
Psychotherapy has limitations, and going into the psychotherapy relationship with awareness of those limitations can help you have realistic expectations for the process and outcomes. Psychotherapy can help you get to know yourself better, uncover access to internal resources that you have lost touch with, help you find or build new skills to move through life’s stressors in a manner that brings you more contentment. Psychotherapy can’t take outside stressors away, can’t change how other people respond or react to you, and can’t diminish the external impact of painful experiences. It requires active participation by both the therapist and the client, and in general, an orientation from both the therapist and the client of some degree of belief in and commitment to the notion that, even if the outside world doesn’t improve, the client can adapt their internal ecosystem. Neuroscience research supports this idea; it’s not pretend and it’s not magic! It’s neuroplasticity. This is the neurological process we engage when we participate in therapy. It’s real, and it’s powerful, and some parts of our brains are poised to resist it, especially when we have experienced complex trauma.
There are many approaches, styles, and modalities of psychotherapy; too many for me to name here. Here is an overview of many different therapy modalities: https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types.
You can read more about my training and approach here: https://caitlyndunham.com/about/
Warm, Affirming Psychotherapy for Healing and Growth 