Psychotherapy treats psychological disorders with techniques designed
to help clients understand their problems or modify their problem behaviors.
In contrast, biomedical therapies treat psychological disorders
with techniques designed to alter brain chemistry.
The various types of psychotherapy derive from psychology’s major perspectives on disorders.
Psychoanalysis was developed by Sigmund Freud to give clients self-insight
into repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts stemming from early childhood.
Humanistic therapies such as client-centered therapy
emphasize human potential, self-awareness, and freedom of choice.
Behavior therapies focus on directly changing problem behaviors
by using basic principles of classical and operant conditioning.
Cognitive therapies are based on the assumption that psychological problems
(especially depression) are caused in part by maladaptive patterns of thinking.
Group therapy and family therapies emphasize the importance of social interactions
within families and other groups, and try to use those interactions
to help the person understand and change problem behaviors.
Many therapists have adopted an eclectic approach that combines techniques from several different types of therapies.