ABSTRACT
Psychotherapy and counselling are 'talking cures' where mental disorders can be treated over time and in which the relationship with the therapist is often of vital importance. Although psychotherapy is often a viable alternative to physical treatment, physical and psychological treatments can also be combined. In depression, patients may have a better prognosis if both kinds of treatment are used. This chapter talks about psychological treatments, psychotherapies include: behavioural therapy, cognitive therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), cognitive analytic therapy (CAT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), group therapy, family therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, counselling and so on. It also examines case histories based on psychotherapy. In prescribing psychotherapies doctors must be careful to find a therapy that matches the illness and refer to a therapist who has the necessary experience and qualifications. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries there was considerable interest in and popularity of the ideas of Sigmund Freud.
