Most people view psychotherapy as an opportunity to talk about their problems in a supportive environment. They expect to be listened to, to be supported, and perhaps nothing else.

Psychotherapy is indeed not well understood. As therapists, we listen to our patients, empathize with them, confront and challenge them, or help them to change or resist changing. We also educate, discuss, practice, rehearse, and role-play various coping methods with patients.

In addition it is important to implement early psychological intervention since untreated psychological symptoms may become worse and more entrenched over time. With early psychological intervention a person suffering is more quickly reduced, allowing him/her a faster return to antecedent levels of functioning.

Psychotherapy is a dialogue, a communication between the client and the therapist. The therapist is there to help you, guide you so you can:

- discover yourself better and bee more aware of your potential
- be more aware of your feelings, your thoughts, your reactions
- make personal changes
- improve the quality of your day-by-day life
- be more efficient in your relationships, improve your social and communication skills
- learn healthy ways of dealing with stressors
- decrease the intensity of emotional distress (that you might live in a depression, anxiety, grief, harassment, abuse etc.)
- build a live worth living.

Psychotherapy should encourage significant changes in the client's cognitive, emotional and behavioral status, in his interpersonal system, in his personality, in his health. This process goes beyond helping someone facing current difficulties or a relation of counsel or support.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, is a short term therapy that focuses on the connection between our thoughts (what we think), feelings (what we feel), and behaviours (what we do). Research has shown that CBT is very effective in treating many problems, including depression, anxiety, panic attacks, stress, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, post traumatic stress, and low self-esteem. Because how we think and behave have a powerful impact on how we feel, CBT focuses on making positive changes in our thought patterns and our actions. By understanding and challenging automatic thoughts and assumptions, behaviours and feelings can be changed. By experimenting with new behaviours, feelings and thoughts can be also changed. Therapy tends to be short-termed but individually tailored to meet the specific needs of each client. Within about 8-15 sessions, most clients see marked improvements in both their symptoms and their quality of life.

Therapy starts with a thorough assessment of the problem (involving a detailed interview and possibly questionnaires or diary forms). Once there is a good understanding of the situation, education is provided about ways of overcoming the problem. You and the therapist then work together on a plan of treatment. Usually there are homework assignments between therapy sessions to focus on putting the plan into action. The goal of therapy is to help you to develop effective ways of coping with the problem that can be applied independently in the future. In other words, you learn to help yourself to cope effectively with life's challenges.

CBT can be considered to have several main principles. These principles are that the therapy:
- Is based on the cognitive-behavioural model of emotional disorders(for example, thoughts influence feelings and behaviour);
- Is brief and time-limited;
- Is structured, directive, and problem-oriented;
- Is a collaborative effort between the psychologist and the individual seeking treatment;
- Individuals are guided to discover new ways of thinking for themselves with specific questions;
- Is often based on an education model (for example, explaining the effects of perceiving threat on bodily reactions);
- Relies on the inductive method, a scientific approach using logic and reasoning; and
- Uses between-session practice as a central feature (for people to put into practice what they have learned). New behaviours are initially tested in safe situations (for example, the practitioner's office).

CBT helps prevent future relapses. It aims to better equip people with the skills they will need to face future problems on their own or with supports.