Many psychologists practice psychotherapy.
Below are some questions often asked about psychologists and psychotherapy.

(Click on the question to be directed to the answer.)

1. What is a psychologist?
2. What does a psychologist do?
3. How can patients make use of their psychologist?
4. What types of problems can we address?
5. What are some of the techniques used to address these issues?
6. How long does therapy last?
7. What are the techniques used to aid in challenges affecting the aging?
8. Do people ever return to therapy?

1. What is a psychologist?
   Psychologists are distinguished from psychiatrists in that we are trained to help people using various talk therapies. Psychiatrists prescribe medications. We focus on talk and behavior. (top)
   
   
2. What does a psychologist do?
   Psychologists work in different ways. They help people gain insight. They help people solve problems or understand why they are stuck and can't solve problems. Also, they help people heal from emotional pain. They teach people how to relax or, on the contrary, how to work harder. They help people organize their priorities. They help people get along better with others including children, parents and spouses, friends, co-workers, supervisors and other people in their lives. (top)
   
   
3. How can patients make use of their psychologist?
   Sometimes simply talking about a problem can result in a new perspective that allows the person to make the necessary changes in behavior or simply to feel better. Talking to a professional who is not a family member or friend can be liberating. Your psychologist has no vested interest in your behaving in a way to gratify them. The psychologist is interested only in your wellbeing. Psychologists are trained to help patients feel safe, comfortable and willing to talk about difficult and even embarrassing topics. We are trained to make patients feel that they are understood. In an unhurried psychotherapy session, you have the freedom to share whatever is meaningful for you. (top)
   
   
4. What types of problems can we address?
   What is meaningful usually falls into 3 general categories:
   Psychological Problems, Health Management, Existential Despair
   
   Psychological problems include: Depression and suicidality, anxiety and excessive worry, fears, loneliness and isolation. Usually, a person suffering from one or more of these problems is having difficulty functioning in the daily lives or in enjoying their daily lives.
   
   Health Management is a big focus in psychology today. Mind-Body Health is concerned with helping people to live more healthful lifestyles, balancing their lives so as to include rewarding and nurturing experiences, minimizing or eliminating the effects of poor health habits (e.g. alcohol and drug addiction, poor diet, cigarette smoking , excessive stress) and managing medical regimens properly. It can also include helping patients to take a more active role in their health care and to feel empowered working with the medical and insurance establishment.
   
   Existential Despair, most often, but not always, found toward the end of life, usually results from losses and disappointments that begin to surface as people retire, lose close relationships to death or distance, lose independence and lose health. It is characterized by any of the following: depression, anxiety, withdrawal, bitterness, anger, and feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, or uselessness. (top)
   
   
5. What are some of the techniques used to address these issues? Relationship building helps patients to develop trust by showing them that close and trusting relationships are possible, and gratifying. Relationships are essential in our lives and therefore having them work well for us is important.
   
   Insight oriented therapy helps people understand their lives and behavior. It aims to help people avoid repeating the same mistakes, getting into the same awkward situations or living through the same bad relationships.
   
   Stress reduction and relaxation. Anxious patients can be taught non-chemical (non-drug) techniques which they can use to reduce fears and worries which would otherwise make them act out impulsively and inappropriately. Chronic stress leads to depression and eventually to the deterioration of physical health. It is not inevitable and can be fixed.
   
   Cognitive-behavioral techniques can be used to help people change the kind of ineffective thinking which leads to relationship failure, feelings of powerlessness, loneliness, and the sense of being stuck. Cognitive-behavioral techniques also include visualization, hypnosis, and progressive relaxation.
   
   Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis is a more intensive type of therapy in which the person explores their life and relationships in great detail to better understand and sometimes to change them. Psychoanalysis can be effective for people who keep repeating the same mistakes in their relationships, jobs or other parts of their lives It can be helpful for people who feel that their lives are meaningless or empty and for people who have trouble connecting with others and establishing meaningful relationships. Psychoanalytic treatments usually consist of 2 or 3 sessions per week and takes place over a longer period of time, due to the intensity of the work to be undertaken. (top)
   
   
6. How long does therapy last?
   The length of therapy differs for different people and for different goals. Some treatments can be relatively brief, that is, 10-20 weekly sessions. Others can last much longer depending on the severity of the problem and on how the work is progressing. Sometimes, an easily solved problem can lead the person to want to delve more deeply into other issues. These goals and outcomes are best explored with a therapist you trust. The best terminations are mutually agreed upon by the patient and therapist. (top)
   
   
7. What are the techniques used to aid in challenges affecting the aging?
   
   Life Review – this is a technique in which the patient learns to make sense out of the events of his or her life; to create a narrative and find meaning in what one has done or not been able to do. In the process, individuals celebrate their successes, face and mourn significant losses, express regrets over mistakes and accept the past and future as they actually are.
   
   Understanding and adhering to medical regimens. Many patients find themselves confused after visits with physicians. Physicians don't always have the time or inclination to explain things thoroughly or in a manner which the patient can understand. Many older patients feel afraid to question their medical doctors or even nurses or to confess failures to follow orders or resistance to doing so. I have worked with many patients to help them better understand what is being suggested by their doctors and to help them express doubts and problems which they might otherwise not bring up but could sabotage their compliance.
   
   Cognitive Rehabilitation. Patients in the early stages of dementia can benefit from a better understanding of what is happening to them and how to deal with it. There are techniques for living with memory loss and cognitive decline. Family members and home health aides can also be enlisted in helping patients to delay or stave off decline or to deal better with it.
   
   Identifying and reducing depression. Depression and dementia can mimic each other. Very depressed patients can look demented, and demented patients often seem (or can be) depressed. Distinguishing the two clearly can help the patient and the medical team better treat what is actually happening.
   
   
8. Do people ever return to therapy?
   Occasionally, people return to therapy months or years after a successful completion for a "tune-up." This followup usually lasts a short time. Sometimes, people decide to return to therapy to work on a problem they weren't able or didn't wish to face the first time around.

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