Present State of Psychotherapy in India

WHAT IS PSYCHOTHERAPY ? "Psychotherapy is the t rea tment , by psychological means, of problems of an emotional nature in which a trained person deliberately establishes a professional relationship with the patient with the object (1) of removing, modifying or re tarding existing symptoms, (2) of mediat ing disturbed patterns of behaviour, and (3) of promoting positive personality growth and development" (Wolberg, 1967). The above is perhaps the most widely accepted definition of psychotherapy. Do all people define psychotherapy in the same way, or are there important differences? As this question may be highly relevant to the question of psychotherapy in India , let us look a t some of the other definitions : "For a very simple realistic definition, one can say tha t psychotherapy is the utilization of psychological measures in the treatment of sick people" (Romano, 1947). "Psychotherapy may be defined as the treatment of emotional and personality problems and disorders by psychological means". (Kolb 1968j. " . . . . p s y c h o t h e r a p y is a form of help in which a trained, socially sanctioned healer tries to relieve a sufferer's distress by facilitating certain changes in his feelings, att itudes and behaviour, through the performance of certain activities with h im" . (Frank, 1961). I t is qui te apparent from the above definitions tha t there is a wide agreement amongst them that by psychotherapy are meant those therapeutic manoeuvres which can be called psychological (as opposed to organic) in the treatment of problems of an emotional or psychological nature. T h e differences a re primarily in two areas ; namely the na ture and qualifications of the therapist, and whether and to what degree the relationship must be deliberate and structured to qualify as psychotherapy. In the Ind ian context, as we shall see later, a number of persons who may be categorised as Fai th Healers or Religious Healers a t tempt to treat psychiatric pat ients by what may be considered psychological methods. Is this psychotherapy? We shall consider this question a li t t le later when we discuss the supposedly therapeutic activities of such healers. Torrcy (1972a, 1972b) has drawn at tent ion to significant similarities between Western psychotherapy and faith healing and has argued that in spite of apparent differences in the technique in the two cases, the therapeutically active ingredients are remarkably similar. Wittkower and Warncs (1974) have d rawn attention to the similarities between psychotherapies practised all over the world. In spite of the superficial differences, they feel that such therapies around the world have got the following impor tan t similarities : (1) There is an intense emotional confiding relationship between the therapist and the pa t ient . (2) The therapist and the pa t ien t share a n identical world view.