Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is the systematic treatment of psychological distress, mental disorders and maladaptive patterns through structured interpersonal interaction between a trained clinician and a patient, using talking and related techniques rather than, or alongside, medication. It encompasses diverse theoretical traditi…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 12 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 78× across the literature 🔖 ISSN 2574-612X 🗓 Reviewed June 2026

Overview

Psychotherapy is the systematic treatment of psychological distress, mental disorders and maladaptive patterns through structured interpersonal interaction between a trained clinician and a patient, using talking and related techniques rather than, or alongside, medication. It encompasses diverse theoretical traditions, including psychodynamic and psychoanalytic, cognitive and cognitive-behavioural, humanistic and existential, systemic and integrative approaches, each offering distinct models of how thoughts, emotions, relationships and unconscious processes contribute to suffering and change. Across these modalities, common factors such as the therapeutic alliance, empathy, a coherent rationale and active engagement contribute substantially to outcome, complementing technique-specific mechanisms. Psychotherapy is applied to depression, anxiety, trauma, bipolar and dissociative disorders, suicidal ideation and adjustment to physical illness, and increasingly emphasises measurement, self-monitoring and evidence-based practice. The peer-reviewed studies collected here reflect this breadth, examining the creative process and structure of treatment, intensive short-term dynamic and solution-focused methods, cognitive-analytic therapy, combined therapy for depressed patients with pain, dissociative amnesia, psychosocial interventions in bipolar disorder, work with torture and war survivors, training pathways for clinicians, and self-monitoring in behaviour change, situating psychotherapy as a clinically diverse, theory-informed field for improving mental health and wellbeing.

Research published in this journal

12 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 12 articles above have been cited 78 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Psychotherapy, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in International Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research (ISSN 2574-612X).

Journal editorial board
Karim Sedky · United States Tullio Scrimali · Italy DAMIANA SCUTERI · Italy

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.