MODERN TRENDS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT
Methods of psychological treatment have been varied throughout the history and have evolved with the
passage of time. As psychology moved from the science of speculation, perceived by great philosophers
such as Socrates, to the scientific study of human behavior, methods of treating psychological diseases also
have been adapted with the changing outlook. Different schools of psychology focused on different aspects
of psychological problems and all developed their own techniques and methods to get rid of these
problems.
Nowadays, according to the universally accepted standards, we can roughly divide mental diseases into two
broad categories:
• Less severe ones: Neurosis
• More severe ones; Psychosis
It would be interesting to note that over the world, there are two manuals available for classification of
diseases, namely:
• International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)
The former has been developed by the World Health Organization while the latter has been developed by
the American Psychiatrist Association. Psychologists from all over the world got together to develop these
manuals. These list all the known mental diseases up to date.
Moving towards the treatment of mental diseases, depending upon the nature of disease and the extent of
severity, two categories of treatments have emerged:
a) Psychological approaches or methods of treatment
b) Biological approaches or methods of treatment
The psychological method of treatment is the approach in which the patient is not treated with medicines.
Instead, the patient in this approach is treated with the help of psychological treatment, which means the
psychologists try to find the root cause of the disease and then try to treat the patient by just listening and
talking about the problem or disease. In other words, the psychologist focuses on discovering the root cause
of the problem that the patient faces and tries to eliminate the problem through just talking to the patient,
making him change his attitude etc. In this technique, no medicine is given to the patient. It involves
methods such as psychotherapy. Methods such as group therapy, family therapy, etc. are also a part of this
mode of treatment.
In the biological approach, the patient is treated not only by listening and discussing the problem but also
through medicines. The psychiatrist advises/recommends some medicines. Usually the psychiatrist advises
medicines which help the patient to relax himself. In other words, biological approach focuses not only on
solving the patient’s problem through talking and discussing; it also involves use of medicine for the
treatment of mental diseases.
Let us delve deep into the two approaches towards the treatment of mental diseases.
a) Psychological Approaches
As mentioned earlier, the psychological approach focuses on treatment of mental diseases by allowing the
patient to vent out what is creating the problem. It does not involve the use of medicine.

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Born with personality is an accident but dying as a personality is an achievement.