The Positive Side of Insight Therapy: Talking It Out Is Best

Comparable to the difficulties that come with discovering a treatment for physical illnesses, the choice of the most fitting form of treatment for mental illnesses is also difficult. Those who suffer from a psychological disorder also worry about the effective quality of the several forms of treatment available, which in the case of mental illnesses can be classified as Behavioral Therapy, Biomedical Therapy, and Insight Therapy. When considering the effective quality of treatment, meaning the time it takes to reduce negative psychological symptoms to such an extent that the patient can return to regular life of working, having healthy relationships, and emotions. Moreover, effective therapy would entail that the patient can then return to a quality of life that is fulfilling for them, not necessarily quickly, but long term. This paper will discuss how Insight Therapy can achieve that result.

Behavioral Therapy, also known as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), is the process of changing overt behavior while. Biomedical Therapy focuses on biomedical functioning therapies. Both forms of therapy have a negative approach that includes systematic desensitizing, shock therapy, and prescription drugs, which are not always effective, and are sometimes even dangerous (Weiten 633-641).

Because Insight, or “Talk,” Therapy has been influenced by Positive Psychology, of all three treatment types, Insight Therapy would be the most effective when considering the overall quality of life of the individual or patient. To further understand the reasoning behind this claim, we would first need to understand Positive Psychology, as well as how that influences Insight Therapy.

Positive Psychology is the process of better understanding how we can positively adapt, create, and fulfill the several aspects of human assistance. Supporters of this form of psychology claim that historically, psychology has focused too much on human weakness and suffering, and not enough on healthfulness, strength, and constructing a resilient foundation. Positive Psychology, instead of focusing primarily on how to deal with conditions such a weakness and suffering, instead, focuses on human attributes that promote life long happiness, such as contentment, well-being, and positive emotions. Though Positive Psychology has influenced several types of therapies, one of its most successful is Group Therapy. More importantly, most Insight Therapy sessions include groups, a successful and popular form of therapy since the 1950s (Csikszentmihalyi 121).

Though it is well understood that, like physical illnesses, psychological and mental illnesses can recover and clear up on their own, and remission can occur with or without formal treatment- therefore, it is difficult to determine which type of therapy, and when that therapy has occurred, could have influenced the recovery of a client or patient. Not to mention, it is often that, in the process of evaluating one's progress, especially in the circumstances of Insight Therapy (within a Group setting or not), the client may automatically feel a satisfactory aftermath because they do not want to consider the fact that they have wasted their money, time, or effort on treatment (L. C. Sobell, J. A. Cunningham, and M. B. Sobell).

Still, even with the understanding of the difficulty of determining the specific effects of any particular form of treatment (in this case, Insight Therapy), statistics have shown positive effects, like the Therapy style itself, develop from Positive Psychology. Furthermore, Insight Therapy can aid a wide range of mental illnesses and has statistically proven to be the most productive. Effectiveness in recovery can not only be determined by how quickly a patient overcomes an illness, but more importantly, whether the positive effects of recovery show long term results, which Insight Therapy has been shown to do.

Works Cited

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, and Isabella Selega. Csikszentmihalyi. A Life Worth Living: Contributions to Positive Psychology. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.

Weiten, Wayne. Psychology: Themes and Variations. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1995. Print.

Sobell, L. C., J. A. Cunningham, and M. B. Sobell. "Recovery from Alcohol Problems with and without Treatment: Prevalence in Two Population Surveys." American Journal of Public Health 86.7 (1996): 966-72. Print.