Psychosocial Interventions

Psychotherapy is an overarching term for any type of professional treatment for psychological and physical distress using verbal and nonverbal communication. Talking together, the patient and therapist engage collaboratively to understand the source of a dysfunction or suffering in order to reverse either maladaptive self-regulatory processes or to adapt and develop psychological strengths to cope with pathological conditions, developmental concerns, or trauma. Psychotherapy addresses multiple levels of functioning, including the neurobiology of the brain itself, the perception of the self to itself, the relationship of the self to others, the role of the individual in the social world, and the conceptual frameworks and beliefs that also may affect emotions and behavior.