Insight-oriented psychotherapy

Forms of insight-oriented psychotherapy include psychoanalysis and Gestalt therapy.[1] Insight oriented psychotherapy places a large emphasis on personal discovery for the patient. Through dedication to trust filled conversations, the patient will go through a process of enlightenment with the therapist. The patient will begin to understand significant life events of theirs as triggers or agents of change for how they live their lives today. [2]

The oldest form of insight-oriented psychotherapy was developed by Freud and is known as psychoanalysis.[1]

Some evidence suggests that the process of insight-oriented psychotherapy can be improved by the use of drugs, which can be described as psychedelic drugs (meaning "mind-manifesting").[3] Psychedelic substances, such as the amphetamine MDMA, can be used in psychotherapy to reinforce and enhance the relationship between the healthcare professional and his or her client (or patient).[3] Such substances can be used to better manage abreaction and catharsis and improve the quality of understanding between the healthcare professional and patient.[3]

Numerous clinical papers on the effectiveness of psychedelics in insight-oriented drug therapy have been published.[4][5] These psychedelics were used to treat a wide variety of psychological issues, including "alcoholism, obsessional neurosis, and sociopathy".[6][7] Furthermore, it was found that psychedelics were effective in easing the process of dying patients.[8] A major reason for the clinical interest in psychedelic drugs for psychoanalysis was the belief of some experimental subjects that the experience of using psychedelic medication reduced their feelings of guilt and made them less depressed and anxious and more self-accepting, tolerant, and alert.[3] Eliciting the release of these feelings through ego death can make the transition to acceptance of the patient's situation much easier, thus causing the seeming acceptance or healing that comes with a combination of intensive sessions and varying psychedelics (based on their condition). This sense of comfort and release of confounding factors have been found to cause nominal increases in patients' ability to rationally handle their situations.

The length of treatment depends on the needs and circumstances of the patient. A time limit may be set to work towards achieving one goal or if more sessions are needed, community therapist may be advised. It can be effective for: mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance abuse disorders, eating disorders, sexual dysfunctions, adjustment disorders, personality disorders and relational, family or academic problems.

However, the popular treatment methods used can also generate placebo insights within clients.[9] Because patients may face a lot of epistemic pressure in the therapeutic encounter, they may experience "insights" such as illusions, deception, or adaptive self-misunderstandings—and it can also generate therapeutic artefacts that seem to confirm these insights.[9]

The two main roles for the therapist are to stay neutral and abstinent towards their patients. Patients who are engaging with Insight-oriented psychotherapy attempt to build a trust-infused rapport with the therapist. It is believed that patients will be able to speak freely without feeling judgement if they understand that their therapist is not reacting, either positively or negatively towards what the patient is saying. In this way, the therapist is keeping a neutral disposition towards the patient. [10]

Different treatment options based on other assumptions about certain ameliorative factors in psychotherapy have been affected by this trend towards shorter treatment procedures. Insight-oriented therapies have generally consisted of treatment approaches that share the premise that behavior is disturbed in some manner through a lack of client awareness.

These approaches to treatment include client-centered psychotherapy which focuses upon special conditions in the therapeutic relationship; existential psychotherapy with its focus upon anxiety of death, as well as philosophical questions regarding the meaning of life; and, the revamp of an interpersonal psychotherapy strategy stemming from its original Sullivanian conception. Many problems have emerged in clinical treatment settings, in large part due to time limitations, as well as the restricted, minimal focus placed upon each of the above types of treatment.[11]

Insight-oriented psychotherapy is also used often and in conjunction with medication for treating depression. However, it is less suited for the afflicted individual who is especially emotional/sensitive, has little self-awareness, and is dealing with a major life problem.

In one example of insight-oriented psychotherapy, a nearly middle aged woman was having difficulty with her cancer treatment. The treatments themselves were not the issue. The issue was that this cancer patient was confusing her past, tumultuous relationships with her current ones. Specifically speaking, with the doctors who were supposed to be treating her. "Associations to the follow-up pelvic exams and second-look surgery (which was negative) reminded her of her father's violation and denigration of women. She felt as though she was subjecting herself to yet another uncaring man who was out to hurt and humiliate a woman." It was ultimately these realizations that the patient came to in her insight-oriented sessions that allowed her to continue her cancer treatment. [12]