Psychotherapy

My husband told me about five popular kinds of psychotherapy.  Found it fascinating, and summarizing it here, in case you find it interesting too.

All five methods seem to have the goal of assisting a person in improving their behavior, thought patterns, or self-esteem. 

1. Use conversation to uncover memories of repressed childhood experiences that may be the cause of neuroses.  Refer to: psychoanalysis, Freud and Jung.

2.  Use conversation to identify the underlying goals a person has that will lead them to self-actualization.    See: humanistic psychology, Maslow. 

3.  Identify habits that a person can form using brute-force.   See: behavioral psychology.

4.  Contradict and question a person's underlying beliefs and world views, to break their current and undesirable thought-patterns.  See: ??? - Evan help me out here?

5.  Change undesirable though-patterns by interrupting them mid-route and attempting to re-train and re-route them.  See: cognitive psychology.

I like psychology and humanism, because it seems to assume that all people fall within some natural spectrum of personality and being, with no outliers, weirdos, or outcasts.  It lets people define for themselves what is 'right' and 'wrong' behavior and psychological state.  This might just be my inaccurate and ignorant view.

Goals and methods that work for each person seem to be very varied.  Some goals might be: being happier, being better able to make others happier, or being able to act in accordance with one's values.