José Luis Laporta: "Many people go to therapy for a personal search".

Psychologist José Luis Laporta talks to us about the reasons for going to therapy.

Psychotherapy can be applied to a wide variety of problems, and that is precisely why many people are not very clear about the sources of discomfort and the needs that should be supported by a psychologist: because they are so diverse, it is not always easy to know where they start and where they end.

For example, there is a widespread belief that psychotherapy is only useful for mental disorders, a mistake that can be very costly. And there are people who could overcome their main problems thanks to the intervention of a psychologist, but do not do so because they do not even consider it as an option.

To better understand what are those situations that may be a reason to go to psychotherapy, in this interview we will talk to psychologist José Luis Laporta, who has been helping people with all kinds of problems for decades.who has been helping people with all kinds of problems for decades.

Interview with José Luis Laporta: the reasons to go to the consultation of a psychologist.

José Luis Laporta is a psychologist specialized in the field of Clinical Psychology, in which he has been working for more than three decades; he currently treats people of all ages both in person and online. In this interview he talks to us about which situations should or deserve to be addressed with the help of a psychotherapist.

Is psychotherapy still too often associated with the concept of mental illness?

Consulting a clinical psychologist does not necessarily mean that the person is ill.

Many times, people who come to a therapy do it for a personal search, to improve their mood, to improve their personal relationships...

That is to say, the desire to know oneself better, facing personal fears, to reduce states of anxiety, phobias, obsessions, depressions... to confront dependencies to drugs, alcohol, gambling, to improve communication with the couple, with the family, at work.

In therapy we have the possibility to talk about our intimate life (telling dreams for example) without being judged, with total freedom of expression. That is to say, to be able to communicate with a "neutral listening" that allows to express emotions, desires and fantasies freely.

From your point of view, what are the needs and problems of a non-psychopathological nature for which people go more to the psychologist's office?

Mostly, patients come for help outside the personal environment, to reinforce their self-esteem, to overcome feelings of loneliness, to elaborate separations, to treat dependencies in the relationship with the partner, to improve family relationships, (for example, to improve the relationship with children in difficult times, such as adolescence) or to elaborate work conflicts, with new mental strategies.

How can psychotherapy help in, for example, cases in which one needs to learn to relate better with other people?

Psychotherapy can help to look for the non-manifest reasons for the conflict, that is, the deeper, hidden reasons in the human mind why a person relates to certain difficulties in his or her work, family, circle of friends, etc.

Today's various psychotherapeutic techniques can help the patient to understand that many times there is a displacement of personal problems that, without realizing it, we attribute to who we call the "other".

What are some of the criteria that people can use to decide whether they need or would benefit from seeing a psychologist?

I think that what might decide us to consult a psychotherapist is if these states of anxiety, sadness or disorientation persist over time and begin to hinder the person's daily life.

Another important reason to consult a psychologist is to suffer from a psychosomatic illness, (illness of psychic origin), such as certain types of asthma, gastric ulcer, headaches, chest pains, etc.

Of course, before treating these illnesses with psychopathological treatments, we have to rule out any organic origin, through consultations with doctors, psychiatrists, neurologists...

On a social and cultural level, how can you combat the idea that without a disorder there is no point in going to a psychologist?

I think that in some places going to the psychologist is much more normal. However, in other places, it is a kind of taboo, there is a kind of fear of going to the psychologist.

But, as I said at the beginning of the interview, the fact that a person goes to a psychologist does not mean that he or she suffers from any mental illness, but it can simply mean that the person is looking for greater personal wellbeing.

Do you think the new generations have a more complete and nuanced view of the usefulness of psychotherapy?

In these times of pandemic, where the media permanently refer to the difficulties caused by isolation, job loss, loss of self-esteem... psychological consultation is becoming widespread, especially among younger people, who are not so prejudiced and tend to be more receptive to this type of therapy.