Supportive versus interpersonal psychotherapy: Expert Example

Supportive versus interpersonal psychotherapy

Psychotherapy refers to the wide range of structured treatment approaches applied to address psychiatric concerns. Through applying psychotherapy, a mediator/psychotherapist is engaged to apply professional knowledge and experience in talk therapy to influence the behaviors and thoughts processes of clients (Sperry, 2016). This paper discusses the unique features of supportive psychotherapy (SP) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IP) as distinctive treatment approaches.

Briefly describe how supportive and interpersonal psychotherapies are similar.

There are three similarities between SP and IP. Firstly, the two approaches apply talk therapy whereby a qualified therapist acts as a mediator to guide the clients through talk therapy to address the psychiatric concerns. The conversations between the client and therapist help in identifying the psychiatric concern, its root cause as well as developing personalized solutions that have a higher probability of success. Secondly, the two approaches require that the client participate in the conversation actively. This helps with exploring the psychiatric concern as it ensure that comprehensive information is acquired to help with developing and applying solutions. The approaches cannot proceed without the client actively participating in the conversation. Thirdly, the two approaches require that the therapist have knowledge on how to apply them. A therapist mist be qualified and experienced in applying an approach before being permitted to practice using the approach (Battaglia, 2019; Markowitz, 2017).

Explain at least three differences between these therapies. Include how these differences might impact your practice as a mental health counselor.

There are three differences between SP and IP that have an impact on the practice of a mental health counselor. The first difference is in the roles of the counselor and client. In SP, the counselor directs the client on what to do while in IP the client develops and applies the solution with guidance from the counselor. This has an influence on practice since SP has the counselor adopts a hands-off attitude while in IP the counselor adopts a hands-on attitude. The second difference is in the boundaries between the counselor and client. In SP, the two have a rigid boundary with all interactions occurring within the scheduled therapy sessions while in IP the relationship is more relaxed with loose boundaries as the two can communicate within and outside the scheduled therapy sessions. This has implications for practice since SP would have the counselor being available during scheduled therapy sessions while IP has the counselor available anytime the client wants to make contact. The third difference is in the therapeutic approach. In SP, the counselor develops a model of the ideal behavior for the client while in IP the therapist guides the client in developing the model of idealized behavior. This has implications for practice as it determines the relationship and interactions between client and counselor, and whether they can have treatment interactions in other settings outside the treatment site (Battaglia, 2019; Markowitz, 2017).

Explain which therapeutic approach you might use with clients and why.

IP would be a much more preferable psychotherapy approach when compared to SP. IP adopts a more comprehensive approach with communication possibilities anytime and anywhere so that the client is always assured of guidance. In addition, IP only has the therapist guiding the client and does not impose any decisions thus making it easier for the client to apply the developed solutions. In contrast, SP restricts interactions between the client and therapist, and has the therapist imposing solutions on the client thus reducing the possibility of treatment success (Gelo, Pritz & Rieken, 2015).

References

Battaglia, J. (2019). Doing supportive psychotherapy. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Publishing.

Gelo, O., Pritz, A. & Rieken, B. (eds) (2015). Psychotherapy research: foundations, process, and outcome. New York, NY: Springer.

Markowitz, J. (2017). Interpersonal psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Sperry, L. (2016). Handbook of diagnosis and treatment of DSM-5 personality disorders: assessment, case conceptualization, and treatment (3^rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.