There are hundreds of psychotherapeutic approaches or schools of thought. By 1980 there were more than 250; by 1996 there were more than 450.

(Freud, seated left of picture with Jung seated at right of picture. 1909)

Psychoanalysis was developed in the late 1800s by Sigmund Freud. His therapy explores the dynamic workings of a mind understood to consist of three parts: the hedonistic id ("the it"), the rational ego ("the I"), and the moral superego (“the above-I"). Freud maintained that the condition of the unconscious mind is profoundly influenced by childhood experiences. So, in addition to dealing with the defense mechanisms used by an overburdened ego, his therapy addresses fixations and other issues by probing deeply into clients' youth.

Gestalt Therapy stands on top of essentially four load bearing theoretical walls: phenomenological method, dialogical relationship, field-theoretical strategies, and experimental freedom. Gestalt therapy is a humanistic, holistic, and experiential approach that does not rely on talking alone, but facilitates awareness in the various contexts of life by moving from talking about situations relatively remote to action and direct, current experience.

Group psychotherapy

The therapeutic use of groups in modern clinical practice can be traced to the early 20th century, when the American chest physician Pratt, working in Boston, described forming 'classes' of 15 to 20 patients with tuberculosis who had been rejected for sanatorium treatment. The term group therapy, however, was first used around 1920 by Jacob L. Moreno, whose main contribution was the development of psychodrama, in which groups were used as both cast and audience for the exploration of individual problems. Today group therapy is used in clinical settings and in private practice settings. It has been shown to be as or more effective than individual therapy.

Cognitive behavioral therapy refers to a range of techniques which focus on the construction and re-construction of people's cognitions, emotions and behaviors. Generally in CBT the therapist, through a wide array of modalities, helps clients assess, recognize and deal with problematic and dysfunctional ways of thinking, emoting and behaving.

Behavior therapy focuses on modifying overt behavior and helping clients to achieve goals. This approach is built on the principles of learning theory including operant and respondent conditioning, which makes up the area of applied behavior analysis or behavior modification.

Body-oriented psychotherapy or Body Psychotherapy is also known as Somatic Psychology, especially in the USA. They generally focus on the link between the mind and the body and try to access deeper levels of the psyche through greater awareness of the physical body and the emotions which gave rise to the various body-oriented based psychotherapeutic approaches.

Expressive therapy is a form of therapy that utilizes artistic expression as its core means of treating clients. Expressive therapists use the different disciplines of the creative arts as therapeutic interventions. This includes the modalities dance therapy, drama therapy, art therapy, music therapy, writing therapy, among others.

Hypnotherapy is therapy that is undertaken with a subject in hypnosis. Hypnotherapy is often applied in order to modify a subject's behavior, emotional content, and attitudes, as well as a wide range of conditions including dysfunctional habits, anxiety, stress-related illness, pain management, and personal development.

List of psychotherapies.

This list contains some approaches that may not call themselves a psychotherapy but have a similar aim, of improving mental health and well-being through talk and other means of communication.

In the 20th century a great number of psychotherapies have been created. All of these face continuous change, both in popularity, methods and effectiveness. Sometimes they are self-administered, either individually, in pairs, small groups or larger groups. However, usually a professional practitioner will use a combination of therapies and approaches, often in a team treatment process that involves reading/ talking/ reporting to other professional practitioners.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)

Adlerian therapy

Adventure therapy

Analytical psychology

Art therapy

Attack therapy

Autogenic training

Behavior therapy

Bionomic psychotherapy

Body psychotherapy

Brief therapy

Classical Adlerian psychotherapy

Chess therapy

Child psychotherapy

Client-centered psychotherapy

Co-counselling

Cognitive analytic psychotherapy

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)

Coherence therapy

Collaborative therapy

Conversion therapy

Dance therapy

Drama therapy

Ecological Counseling

Emotionally Focused Therapy

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)

Experiential Therapy

Expressive therapy

Family therapy

Feminist therapy

Freudian psychotherapy

Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP)

Gestalt therapy

Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy

Group therapy

Holistic psychotherapy

Humanistic psychology

Hypnotherapy

Integral psychotherapy

Internal Family Systems Model

Interpersonal psychoanalysis

Interpersonal psychotherapy

Jungian psychotherapy

Music therapy

Narrative Therapy

Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy (Note: This is not an alternative name for Neuro-Linguistic Programming)

Object Relations Psychotherapy

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)

Pastoral counseling/therapy

Person-centered (or Client-Centered or Rogerian) psychotherapy

Personal construct psychology (PCP)

Person First Approach in Therapy

Play therapy

Positive psychology

Primal therapy

Process Psychology

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy

Psychoanalysis

Psychodrama

Rational Living Therapy (RLT)

Reality therapy

Social therapy

Transactional Psychotherapy (TP)

Занятие №12