Psychology

Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy
In managing mental health conditions, the care-provider utilizes different treatment modalities. Among these modalities is psychotherapy which can be administered solely or as part of a regime inclusive of other modalities such as pharmcotherapy  and special modalities like electroconvulsive therapy (Murdock, 2009). Psychotherapy is of particular importance as it obligates the provider to interact with the patient at a personal level with the aim of helping the patient deal with stressors in their lives (Murdock, 2009). Various approaches have been adopted by health professionals in conducting psychotherapy. These approaches are guided by various theories developed in behavioral sciences, as a result, a myriad of approaches are in use today with each of them useful but also individually deficient in certain regards (Murdock, 2009). This paper examines four of these approaches namely narrative, feminist and solution focused therapy.

The goal in psychotherapy is to enable the patient gain insight (Murdock, 2009). Insight is the ability of a person to understand what is happening to them both internally and externally, thus the patient  becomes aware of their own behavior and emotions, and concurrently of those in contact with them (Murdock, 2009). Thus the care-provider does not merely offer advice but through dialogue offers support, imparts the patient with new skills and educates the patient on behavior and emotion. Psychotherapy is thus a process that is heavily reliant on logic and facts which the care-provider discusses with the patient (Murdock, 2009). It is a collaborative process as the final decision on how any given concern will be tackled is left to the patient, the patient is thus an active participant in their own therapy (Murdock, 2009). It is in these regards that the previously named approaches meet, the choice of any particular approach is dependent on the type of patient seeking remedy (Murdock, 2009). It should be remembered that each of the theories was developed in search of alternative that would satisfy failings of existent approaches

Feminist theory was developed in the sixties driven by the women rights movement at the at time in an attempt to solve apparent demographic differences that showed that the majority of people seeking care were women while the traditional theories in use failed to serve them well as they were partanity based (Murdock, 2009).Feminist theory focuses on how society, culture and politics define the well-being of the individual at the expense of the role the particular individual plays in their own mental health condition (Murdock, 2009) .This approach therefore proposes that the patients problems can be solved via changes in their sociopolitical environment. The patients are thus encouraged to involve themselves in pushing for social change in order to empower themselves (Murdock, 2009).

Solution focused therapy as the name suggests involves finding solutions that are specific to the individual (Murdock, 2009). Like in the feminist theory, it assumes that the individual is the master of themselves and thus decide on their own fate (Murdock, 2009).In this approach, change is  perceived to be constant and inevitable and thus problems arise when solutions available fail to adapt accordingly (Murdock, 2009). The focus is on moving forward with less regard to previous events with reinforcement of solutions that have worked and effecting appropriate change in ineffective solutions (Murdock, 2009).The care-provider focuses on identifying and fostering change thus problems per-se are not discussed (Murdock, 2009).This approach was developed by De Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg who built upon Milton Erickson and MRI models which enabled shift from traditional research which was based solely on what the therapist considered as successful means of psychotherapy (murdock, 2009).

Narrative therapy refers to theory fronted by Micheal White and David Epston. A narrative includes an introduction, a plot, subplot and a conclusion. In its development certain notion take priority over others , when this is viewed in a larger paradigm, the effect is suppression of certain ideals and concurrently people who hold these ideals (Murdock, 2009). This is the central premise in narrative therapy. In this approach, the client is viewed in a manner similar to feminist approach where the sociopolitical situation of the client is considered (Murdoch, 2009). This is because stories influence the perspective individuals perspective of their own life e.g the christian story of creation may discriminate against believers in evolution theory (Murdock, 2009). The therapist in this approach encourages the client develop their own story by highlighting the richness that experience holds over narrative (Murdock, 2009). In this way perceptions about self are change as the oppressive problem filled story is replaced by the untold story (Murdock, 2009). Recently, postmodernism, the premise that the is no universal truth and events have multiple valid interpretations, has been integrated into narrative therapy.

In conclusion, the above discussed psychotherapy approaches offer useful insights that are of use in the work of the modern therapist. This fact is reinforced by the realization that patients are not as simple as each of these models propose (Murdock, 2009). For instance relying on the feminist approach only may lead to mismanagement of cases as it is unlikely that the mental health condition of a patient will be solely determined by sociopolitical factors in isolation (Murdock, 2009). In addition, they guide the therapist as they offer improvements on traditional approaches such as determinism which proposes that the present behavioral characteristics of the individual develop only early in life and thus cannot be altered (Murdock, 2009). These approaches, in particular narrative and solution focused therapy, help in defining the role of the caregiver as a guiding light rather than the ultimate authority as concerns solving mental health problems thus negating the possibility of mismanagement as therapists being human are not always right (Murdock, 2009).