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Psychotherapy
A term used for all types of treatment in which a trained psychologist uses psychological techniques to help persons in need of assistance. Psychotherapists employ a range of techniques that may assist in, for example, the development of social or interpersonal skills, relationship building, heightening of cognitive awareness, and behavior change, with the goal of improving the mental health of the client. The first specific school of psychotherapy can be traced back to Sigmund Freud in the early 1900s. Freud focused on problems that had no organic basis, theorizing that problems had psychological causes originating in childhood experiences. He developed techniques such as dream interpretation, free association, and transference. There are now a number of schools of thought regarding psychotherapy, including, cognitive behavioral, psycho-dynamic, existential, ...