Psychotherapy
The clinic Praxisgemeinschaft 4P in Zurich offers recognized psychotherapeutic treatments for psychological and psychosomatic afflictions as well as for psychological aspects of somatic diseases.
We operate exclusively according to scientifically recognized psychotherapeutic methods, mainly with psychoanalytic and integrative procedures. If appropriate, behavioral, systemic or supportive methods are applied.
In each case, we orientate ourselves according to the needs of the patient as well as according to the characteristics of the affection, providing appropriate suggestions for treatment.
Psychotherapy is usually carried out in one or two weekly sessions. The basic Swiss health insurances will refund the costs of treatment if it’s performed by a psychiatrist or by a psychologist as a delegated psychotherapy. Our psychotherapeutic treatments address individuals in different phases of life as well as couples, families and groups. We also offer supervision of psychotherapeutic processes for psychiatrists and psychotherapists.
* An overview of the psychological health problems that can be solved or alleviated by psychotherapy can be found in Chapter V of the ICD of the WHO, ie the International Classification of Diseases. The currently valid version is based on the 10th revision, which is updated annually. Parallel to the development of the ICD-10, a basic 11th revision is being worked on. The ICD-11 is to be adopted by the WHO in 2018.
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a continuously evolving, convenient and sustainably effective therapeutic technique based on psychoanalysis which was founded more than 100 years ago by Sigmund Freud.
Methodically it’s a talking cure. In one or two sessions per week, current difficulties are discussed. The therapist listens and observes attentively the patient's messages, checks back and aims to recognize and understand jet undetected links. In doing so, he continues to deal with the feelings and fantasies arising and transmitted by the patient.
The focus is on exploration of the patient’s inner experience as it occurs in current daily life, and not - as often assumed – on the difficulties of childhood and past. These are, however, of interest insofar as they manifest themselves in the here and now.
The therapist communicates his perceptions to the patient in a suitable manner as so-called interpretations. Interpretations can allow patients to gain insight into often scarcely conscious or unconscious motives, thoughts and feelings and hence lead to a relief of previously blocked or inaccessible feelings. Problems in the patient’s lives will most likely also reflect in the therapeutic relationship. They manifest for instance in the kind of expectations and hopes as well as in the fears or ambiguous feelings towards the therapist. These again relate to underlying emotional conflicts obstructing emotional awareness, and affecting on the sense of self and self-esteem.
Psychotherapy with Children
Currently this service is offered in English only by Andrea Preiss.
In the psychoanalytic work with children, play is an important means of expression and communication.
The child stages and processes his conflicts in play. The therapist's task is to understand the playful representation, to grasp the unconscious motives and to make them available in a suitable form. This enables the child to have new experiences and to experience feelings that help him to reorganize his inner world, to recognize connections and to find more appropriate solutions.
Parallel to the child therapy, accompanying parent discussions take place. It is of crucial importance that the therapy is supported by the caregivers and that the parents can support the developmental steps of the child.
Couple’s and Family Therapy
We offer couple’s and family therapy mainly as a solution-focused approach aiming to change the interactional processes in relationships.
Primarily conflicts and communication problems in couples and families are the objectives. These may include difficulties and crises with the life partner as well as sexual problems but also conflicts within the family, which can for instance appear as educational problems or troubles with the children at school.
During couple or family meetings the therapist assumes an empathic and neutral attitude. Problems and conflicts get alleviated or solved in common by constructive interaction attended through the counseling process.
Relationship counseling is also advisable for couples converging towards separation. In these cases, we offer psychological mediation in order to make separation happen as cooperatively as possible.
Integrative und supportive Psychotherapy
Integrative psychotherapy, embracing multiple methods
Integrative psychotherapy can be applied to all mental disorders. Depending on the indication and therapy phase, various methods of recognized therapies are used in integrative psychotherapy. These can include psychodynamic procedures as well as systemic or interpersonal therapy forms, disturbance-specific talk therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy.
The focus is on awareness of conflicts, the sharpening of perception, modification of actual behavior as well as changes in partnership, family and occupation, but also relaxation methods and supportive procedures can be part of the treatment.
Supportive Psychotherapy
Supportive psychotherapy is applied especially in outpatient follow-up care of persons with psychiatric disorders, particularly after hospital stays.
In addition to the psychotherapeutic treatment in the narrower sense, this also involves supportive accompaniment in everyday life and illness management. Modules of supportive treatment are structuring of everyday life, social integration, counseling in the search for a suitable work or daytime employment, counseling in financial distresses as well as psychoeducation concerning the illness.
If necessary and in agreement with the patient, the supportive treatment also includes cooperation with relatives, family doctors, clinics, authorities and social insurances.
Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy
As the name implies, cognitive behavior therapy focuses on cognitions.
Cognitions comprise attitudes, thoughts, assessments, and beliefs. Cognitive behavioral theory assumes that the way we think determines how we feel and behave as well as how we react physically. The focus of the therapy is therefore on the awareness of cognitions, respectively on uncovering unhealthy patterns of thought and how they may be causing self-destructive behaviors and beliefs.
Cognitive behavioral therapy therefore focuses on the active shaping of the perception process, because in the last resort, not the objective reality, but the subjective view determines the behavior. If the cognition is inadequate (eg, by selective perception and evaluation), the possibility is also impaired to shape affect and behavior appropriately. Above all spontaneous and emotionally driven behavior are highly influenced by the nature and structure of the environmental model that developed in a person in the course of his experiences.
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