First of all it would be very helpful if there was a definition of what therapy is. According to Webster's Dictionary the word therapy means a "remedial treatment of bodily disorder". The disorders with which psychologists deal, are usually that of the brain although the problems caused by this area are in no way limited to mental areas; mental problems almost always cause physical ailments. When we t

The final form of interaction which I shall mention began in the 1960's and was called the Community Mental Health Movement. The basic idea of this movement was that people with mental problems be able to live in the community. Community Mental Health Centers were set up. With government funding, these centers made it possible for individuals to leave more normal lives and served as a transition point for those who were released from mental hospitals. According to the text, "the majority of the people with chronic psychological disorders live in the community; not the hospital". In my mind, this is the closest of the three to psychotherapy.

In all three of these therapies, there are many differences so I will outline the major ones. As was noted previously, Freud's psychodynamic therapy with its psychanalysis concentrates not only on the past, but on the forgotten and repressed, essentially the unknown. On the other hand, cognitive therapy depends on the known, such as the clients personal attitudes beliefs and expectations and then attempts to alter them so as to relieve concerns and fears. The Humanistic-Existential therapies, like psychodynamic therapies, also concentrate on the unconscious. The difference is that unlike Freud and his followers, these therapists concentrate on the present and not the past focusing on "the here and now".

When drugs and therapy sessions are not enough there are other possibilities, such as ECT or Psychosurgery. ECT or Electroconvulsive therapy is the "treatment of disorders...like major depression by passing an electric current, (that causes a convulsion), through the head". On the same page of the text we can find the definition of psychosurgery. It states that it is "intended to promote psychological changes or to relieve disordered behavior". One example of this would be a Prefrontal Lobotomy in which the nerves in the frontal lobe of the brain are severed in an effort to decrease violent and aggressive tendencies. Both of these treatments have many side-effects and so are not immediately desirable. The lobotomy has been for the most part discontinued in the United States, because its side-effects are too serious and new drugs have better success rates and are therefore more preferable. The ECT has been very effective in reducing depression and decreasing the suicide rate and so it can be a last resort when other drugs and forms of psychotherapy have not been successful.

hink of therapy after an accident of some sort such as an automobile collision, we generally tend to term this physical therapy. Following a similar thought process then, would lead us to believe that there is a term for mental therapy, and there is, Psychotherapy. The text book defines psychotherapy as "a systematic interaction between a therapist and a client that brings psychological principles to bear on influencing the client's thoughts, feelings or behavior to help that client overcome abnormal behavior or adjust to problems in living". With this definition in mind, we are now in a position to answer the first question posed in the introduction, which asks how psychotherapy and other interactions differ and how they are similar. Well first of all, what I meant by "other interactions"? Some of these are Asylums, Mental Hospitals and Community Mental Health Centers. Asylums began hundreds of years ago in medieval Europe. Originating in monasteries, they were the "first institutions meant primarily for persons with psychological disorders". The big difference however between these and any psychotherapeutic ideas is that no therapy was offered. The sole purpose of these establishments was t

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