URITHI
MENTAL
WELLNESS
CENTER

As humans, our early-life experiences, challenges, or traumas and, sometimes, experiences of adulthood result in a variety of coping responses, some of them effective and contributing to psychological wellbeing and adaptive lifestyles in individuals. However, due to these experiences, some individuals develop reactionary attitudes, behavior patterns and emotions that result in psychological challenges which need to be unpacked and unraveled within the context of a therapeutic environment.

These challenges affect one's intrapersonal emotional security as well as one's interactive character or performance in social, academic, or work settings, rendering their functioning less effective. At times, psychological challenges are related to or compounded by natural or biological factors - attention deficits and other neurodevelopmental disorders, chemical depression or bipolar episodes, schizophrenia, and the like - but often they are social responses to emotional discomfort - obsessive compulsive disorder, addiction, anxiety, or phobias, for instance. They often manifest as inappropriate social responses or sabotaging emotional patterns of interaction, rendering reduced productivity in the academic or workplace and giving rise to conflictual situations in the family or social context.

The origin of the word therapy is relatively modern, meaning medical treatment of disease, from Modern Latin therapia, and from Greek therapeia, curing, healing, or from therapeuein to cure, treat medically - literally attend, do service, take care of. Coincidentally, also in the mid-1800's, Josef Breuer (1842-1925) became regarded as the true father of modern psychotherapy. Whilst disciplines such as medicine and physiotherapy deal with biological traumas, psychotherapy works on the less tangible cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial aspects of human wellbeing and healing. As such, psychotherapy is often a lengthy collaboration between therapist and client.