Psychotherapy is treatment of psychic problems through talking to a psychotherapist, a person who has special education for giving help in this way.

Cognitive therapy: The patient learns to think effectively e.g. in the case of eating disorders "I am normal and it is the photographer's models who are abnormally slim" instead of: "the photographer's models are perfect and I want to look like them. I must reduce my weight".
How do you learn to think constructively? Can this help with Stress Management?
Answer:
We interpret our surroundings continually and individually. Some people interpret them in a self-destructive way which leads to unhappiness and failure to create a good life for themselves. Others are ultimately successful with life, even though it seemed dark and hopeless at the beginning.

If you suspect that you are stuck in a self-destructive pattern of thinking, you can ask yourself if you get any benefit from thinking in this way. If not, then you are your own worst enemy. Do you really want to be a person who is always being pushed down? You can get away from it as follows:

First identify those self-destructive ideas you repeat to yourself like a broken record. Then start to practice to replace them with ideas which will help you make progress. Here is a list of examples of destructive and constructive ideas:

Self-destructive ideas: Ideas which lead to self-fulfilment and progress:
I must be loved and get approval for everything I do. I concentrate on my own self-respect and on loving instead of being loved.
I can't help my feelings and I have no control over them. I have enormous control over my feelings and I practise saying the right things to myself.
Happiness comes through laziness and inactivity. People are happiest when they are active and engaged in creative things or when they devote themselves to others.
I need somebody bigger and stronger who can care for me and help me. It is better to stand on your own legs and get confidence in your ability to meet life's difficulties.
I need to be competent, adequate, intelligent and successful in all respects. I try to do something even if I can't be the best. I accept myself and all my limitations.
I cannot forgive myself for bad things I have done. I learn from what has happended, and use that knowledge to handle my life better in the future.
My unhappiness depends on external factors which have been forced on me by people and events. Most unhappiness is caused or maintained by personal reactions rather than the things themselves.
Anything which has affected me strongly will do so to the end of my life. I try to learn from previous experiences but I am not unnecessarily controlled by them.
What other people do is very important for me and I must make a great effort to try to make them to move in the direction I want them to go. Other people's shortcomings are largely their affair and to exert pressure on them usually helps least of all.
It is easier to avoid life's difficulties and responsibilities than to meet them head-on. The easiest way is often the hardest in the long run. The only way to solve difficult problems is to face up to them and work.
If anything is, or may be, dangerous you must be extremely worried about it. It is best to try and make it harmless, less harmful or controllable. If this is impossible, then be alert and careful, but stop wasting energy by worrying.
It is terrible when things are not the way I want them to be. Try to change or control circumstances so they get more satisfying. If that is impossible, it is better to accept the situation and stop repeating to yourself how terrible things are.


Behavioural therapy: The patient gets help from somebody, or from a computer, in order to understand and learn how to eat normally. The patient also gets tips about other things which can be done instead of eating.

Psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis: Unpleasant and painful experiences, usually from childhood, are examined. The therapist helps patients to interpret their feelings.

A problem with this method is that patients often have a strong tendency to be so influenced by those in their surroundings that they come away from their own feelings and wishes and just do what the therapist wants. They might accept interpretations which are not based on their own experiences. There is a risk that the patient learns to accept the therapists explanations and do not get in contact with his or her own feelings and physical signals, blaming childhood experiences instead of getting in contact with their own inner world.

Gestalt therapy: The main point of this method is for patients to learn to identify their real needs and feelings.
The fundamental idea in gestalt therapy is to experience oneself as intensively as possible, live in the present, act instead of theorizing, experience feelings as directly as possible and take responsibility for ones actions and symptoms so that one can function as a person where feelings, physical impressions, thoughts and actions are connected.
The patients becomes more aware of themselves and the inner world. By experiencing more clearly what is wanted, felt and perceived, the patient will be able to be assertive in relation to the surroundings. A contributory cause of eating disorders can be fear of showing feelings and suppressing them. The patient uses eating or starvation for this purpose.
Really unpleasant feelings are experienced, such as a compelling need for compulsive eating or starvation. Through therapy the patient can get acquainted with and understand the suppressed feelings and manage them more effectively.
A person who has suffered from an eating disorder but has gone through a successful therapy, eats only when physically hungry and stops when physically satisfied. This person is curious about real feelings and wants to investigate them instead of anaesthetizing them by overeating or starvation.

Family therapy: The whole family of a person with mental disorders often needs help in learning how to manage the problem. Here are some things which family members and friends should bear in mind:
By all means talk to the affected person, but do it in a kind way. Don't feel insulted if the person becomes angry. Don't accuse, avoid causing feelings of guilt, try to listen and understand.
Show your affection, sympathy and understanding, especially in the difficult period when a person is beginning to come to grips with the problem.
Show that you care, ask how the person is feeling.
Don't demand the necessary changes in weight, but discuss the situation and listen to what the person with the eating disorder has to say.
Suggest that the person get adequate therapy. Don't try to give more help than you have competence for.
Don't let the sick person dominate, even if the family needs to take consideration. Just as the family of an alcoholic needs to accept not to have alcohol at home, the family of a person with an eating disorder needs to accept not to have tempting junk food at home.

Group therapy: Patients discuss their problems in a group and the realization that others have similar needs may make it easier to understand their own problems. Members of the group help each other.
Advantages with Group Therapy:
Group therapy usually costs much less. One therapist charges, for example, 100 €/month for group therapy 90 minutes once a week, and charges 80 €/month for one 45-minute session.
Meeting other people with problems can give a wider perspective of your own problems.
Listening to other people helps you understand that you can view and handle problems in more than one way.
Other people can give encouragement and emotional support; a general feeling for the human condition: "We are all in the same boat."
Advantages with Individual Therapy:
No one except the therapist will know your secrets.
The therapist gets more time to handle your particular problems.
You can often penetrate deeper into your inner problems than with group therapy.
You do not have to listen to other people, which may feel better if you have lots of your own problems.
You can arrange a time which suits you and you do not have to co-ordinate your calendar with other people and available group therapy slots.