The classic field of application for conversational psychotherapy is the so-called neurotic diseases, which include anxiety, depression, psychosomatic diseases, sexual disorders, etc. It is also considered a successful treatment method for addictive disorders, personality disorders and psychotic disorders.
Outpatient treatment
In outpatient treatment, the therapist usually schedules a 50-minute session once a week. The average length of treatment is about 70 sessions over two years – but this depends on the severity of the disorder. Conversational psychotherapy is not approved as a benefit of statutory health insurance, nor do all private insurers reimburse the costs. These range from €50 to €100 per hour of therapy.
Summary
Jochen Eckert gives some recommendations on how to find out as a patient whether talk therapy or the therapist are suitable. Basically, the conversational psychotherapist wants nothing more from his patient than to understand him, which results in the patient also understanding himself better. Psychiatric and psychosomatic polyclinics give advice on whether psychotherapy is a possible treatment and if so, what kind of therapy.
If one finds access to a therapist by direct means, then it is customary and advisable to arrange three to five preliminary discussions before arranging the actual therapy. At the end of these preliminary discussions, the patient should be sure that he or she wants to begin therapy and should have developed an optimistic feeling that help is at hand.
If the patient’s mental illness has already necessitated one or more inpatient treatments, he should certainly not conceal this from the therapist, including previous suicide attempts. For his part, he should make sure the therapist does not automatically discontinue treatment should such crises occur again.
The main elements of talk therapy are:
Empathy/ Empathic Understanding: The therapist must try to understand his client/patient, his reality, and his view of the world. In doing so, he must not only pay attention to what is verbally expressed, but must also include gestures, facial expressions, etc. The things that the therapist has understood and perceived, he should continuously communicate to his client.
Appreciation / Acceptance: The client/patient should feel – no matter what he feels, what he expresses or how he acts – fully accepted by the therapist. He must feel that the therapist’s appreciation does not depend on any particular desired behavior. This fundamentally positive attitude strengthens the client’s self-confidence and consolidates his trust in the therapy.
Congruence / genuineness: The point here is that the therapist should represent an integrated personality. This means that his thoughts, feelings and actions must coincide (no contradictions). In addition, the content of what is communicated, the tone of voice, facial expressions, gestures and feelings should be consistent in what they say. Thus, the therapist must necessarily be aware of himself and his feelings for the most part. He must not play a role to his clients.