Often, patients ask what makes the psychotherapy process work, what to expect. At the core of our process, therapy focuses on helping each individual to find his or her voice to be heard, accepted, and properly understood. This is the catalyst for building a working relationship and setting the therapeutic process in motion. Specifically, this “right talking,” with the right therapist, in the right atmosphere, termed the “talking cure” more than one hundred years ago, is even more valid today. In fact, recent neurological and brain research confirms that this type of “progressive communication” is at the heart of the healing process in treatment.
This “talking process” is, of course, modified for child, couples, family, or group therapy. For example, play therapy with children utilizes toys, games, art, and storytelling to help give these patients a language for progressive communication. Periodic family counseling, focusing on behavioral management concerns and family communication, is an essential adjunct to treatment.