Psychiatry Itself

Another belief found in church circles is a suspicion of psychiatry and psychotherapy themselves.  They often cite the stereotype of the doctor steeped in Freudian theories who obsessively questions your thoughts about sex and about your father.

Nothing could be further from the therapy offered by today’s modern practitioners. Modern talk therapy concentrates on giving a person coping skills to handle their symptoms in all facets of their lives.  Various therapies exist, but cognitive behavioral therapy and interpersonal therapy are the most common therapies that social workers and therapists are trained in.

Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on how a person’s thoughts and feelings affect their behaviors.  Establishing the feelings and thoughts behind disruptive behaviors is seen as critical to understanding why a person behaves a certain way and aids that person in finding new behaviors that do not depend on faulty thinking and believing.

Interpersonal therapy concentrates on the relationships a person has with others with an eye to improving those relationships through specific strategies and self-awareness.  It is particularly helpful with bipolar disorder in that it helps the sufferer understand self-isolation and difficulties getting along with others by educating them on how to better interact with the people in that person’s life.  People with bipolar disorder tend to have disordered relationships because their manic and depressed behaviors can wreak havoc on relationships that are formed on a basis of trust because the bipolar person’s emotions are often distorted by the disorder.

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