Psychotherapist

Description

Psychotherapists assist and treat healthcare users with varying degrees of psychological, psychosocial, or psychosomatic behavioural disorders and pathogenic conditions by means of psychotherapeutic methods. They promote personal development and well-being and provide advice on improving relationships, capabilities, and problem-solving techniques. They use science-based psychotherapeutic methods such as behavioural therapy, existential analysis and logotherapy, psychoanalysis or systemic family therapy in order to guide the patients in their development and help them search for appropriate solutions to their problems. Psychotherapists are not required to have academic degrees in psychology or a medical qualification in psychiatry. It is an independent occupation from psychology, psychiatry, and counselling.

Other titles

The following job titles also refer to psychotherapist:

geriatric psychotherapist
hypno-psychotherapist
specialist psychotherapist
person-centered psychotherapist
person-centred psychotherapist
body psychotherapist
positive psychotherapist
neuro-linguistic psychotherapist
transactional analytic psychotherapist
gestalt psychotherapist
expert psychotherapist
expert in psychotherapy
psycoterapy expert
child psychotherapist
integrative psychotherapist
psychoanalytical psychotherapist
cognitive behavioural therapist
systemic therapist
practitioner of psychotherapy
humanistic psychotherapist
psychotherapy practitioner
multi-modal psychotherapist
group psychotherapist
psychodrama psychotherapist
transpersonal psychotherapist
psychodynamic psychotherapist
youth psychotherapist
reality therapy psychotherapist
existential psychotherapist

Minimum qualifications

Doctoral or equivalent level is generally required to work as psychotherapist. However, this requirement may differ in some countries.

ISCO skill level

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

  • the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
  • the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
  • the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

Psychotherapist is a Skill level 4 occupation.

Psychotherapist career path

Similar occupations

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to psychotherapist.

clinical psychologist
psychologist
art therapist
specialist biomedical scientist
health psychologist

Long term prospects

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of psychotherapist. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of psychotherapist with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

Essential knowledge and skills

Essential knowledge

This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of psychotherapist.

Theories of personality: Theoretical conceptions of personality, such as psychodynamic theory, humanistic theory or behaviorism.
Psychological diagnostics: The psychological diagnostics strategies, methods and techniques concerning health-related experiences and behaviours as well as mental disorders
Health care occupation-specific ethics: The moral standards and procedures, ethical questions and obligations specific to occupations in a health care setting such as respect for human dignity, self-determination, informed consent and patient confidentiality.
Supervision of persons: The act of directing one individual or a group of individuals in a certain activity.
Psychiatric disorders: The characteristics, causes and treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Historic development of psychotherapeutic schools: The timeline of the psychotherapeutic schools of practice, their general description, characteristics and fields of application.
Psychopharmacology: The awareness of various effects that medicines have on the patient or client’s behaviour, mood and thinking.
Personality development theories: The theories of the healthy and psychopathological personality development.
Psycho-social forms of intervention: Types of support activities and interventions that can reduce stressful events, symptoms or risk and improve the quality of life.
History of patient’s psychotherapeutic problems: The records of the patient`s previous psychotherapeutic problems or disorders.
Therapy in health care: The principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions.
Psychology: The human behaviour and performance with individual differences in ability, personality, interests, learning, and motivation.
Psychopathology: The criteria of psychiatric diagnoses, the use of the disease classification system, and the theories of psychopathology. The indicators of functional and organic disorders and the types of psychopharmacological medications.
Psychosomatics: Interdisciplinary medical specialty addressing the connection between the social, psychological, and behavioral attitudes and their impact on human processes.
Conditions for the professional practice of psychotherapy: The institutional, legal and psychosocial practices and regulations related to the practice of psychotherapy.
Scientific research methodology: The theoretical methodology used in scientific research involving doing background research, constructing an hypothesis, testing it, analysing data and concluding the results.
Psychological theories: The historical development of counselling and psychological theories, as well as the perspectives, applications, and interviewing and counselling strategies.
Disorders affecting self-awareness: The consciousness process related to various medical disorders and illnesses and its manifestation and treatment options.
Psychiatry: Psychiatry is a medical specialty mentioned in the EU Directive 2005/36/EC.

Essential skills and competences

These skills are necessary for the role of psychotherapist.

Respond to changing situations in health care: Cope with pressure and respond appropriately and in time to unexpected and rapidly changing situations in healthcare.
Use clinical assessment techniques: Use clinical reasoning techniques and clinical judgement when applying a range of appropriate assessment techniques, such as mental status assessment, diagnosis, dynamic formulation, and potential treatment planning.
Manage psychotherapeutic relationships: Establish, manage and maintain the therapeutic relationship between psychotherapist and patient and client in a safe, respectful and effective way. Establish a working alliance and self-awareness in the relationship. Make sure the patient is aware that his/her interests are a priority and manage out-of-session contact.
Contribute to continuity of health care: Contribute to the delivery of coordinated and continuous healthcare.
Use e-health and mobile health technologies: Use mobile health technologies and e-health (online applications and services) in order to enhance the provided healthcare.
Evaluate practice in psychotherapy: Adopt a critical attitude towards existing psychotherapy models and their applicability to individual clients.
Empathise with the healthcare user: Understand the background of clients` and patients’ symptoms, difficulties and behaviour. Be empathetic about their issues; showing respect and reinforcing their autonomy, self-esteem and independence. Demonstrate a concern for their welfare and handle according to the personal boundaries, sensitivities, cultural differences and preferences of the client and patient in mind.
Maintain personal development in psychotherapy: Develop and monitor personal qualities as a professional psychotherapist, ensuring resilience, the ability to manage complex and unpredictable behavior and taking appropriate action when required
Work with healthcare users under medication: Work with healthcare users who are using prescribed medications and other drugs.
Provide a psychotherapeutic environment: Create and maintain a suitable environment for the psychotherapy to take place, making sure the space is safe, welcoming, consistent with the ethos of the psychotherapy, and meeting the needs of the patients as far as possible.
Formulate a case conceptualisation model for therapy: Compose an individualised treatment plan in collaboration with the individual, striving to match his or her needs, situation, and treatment goals to maximise the probability of therapeutic gain; considering any possible personal, social, and systemic barriers that might undermine treatment.
Respond to healthcare users’ extreme emotions: React accordingly when a healthcare user becomes hyper-manic, panicky, extremely distressed, agressive, violent, or suicidal, following appropriate training if working in contexts where patients go through extreme emotions regularly.
Manage healthcare users’ data: Keep accurate client records which also satisfy legal and professional standards and ethical obligations in order to facilitate client management, ensuring that all clients’ data (including verbal, written and electronic) are treated confidentially.
Use psychotherapeutic interventions: Use psychotherapeutic interventions suited to the different stages of treatment.
Conclude the psychotherapeutic relationship: Conclude the process of the psychotherapeutic relationship, making sure that the patient’s needs are met.
Work with patterns of psychological behaviour: Work with the patterns of a patient or client’s psychological behaviour, which may be outside of their conscious awareness, such as non-verbal and pre-verbal patterns, clinical processes of defence mechanisms, resistances, transference and counter-transference.
Communicate effectively in healthcare: Communicate effectively with patients, families and other caregivers, health care professionals, and community partners.
Follow clinical guidelines: Follow agreed protocols and guidelines in support of healthcare practice which are provided by healthcare institutions, professional associations, or authorities and also scientific organisations.
Encourage healthcare user’s self-monitoring: Encourage the healthcare user to engage in self-monitoring by conducting situational and developmental analyses on him- or herself. Assist the healthcare user to develop a degree of self-critique and self-analysis in regards to his behaviour, actions, relationships and self-awareness.
Identify mental health issues: Recognise and critically evaluate any possible mental health/illness issues.
Handle patient trauma: Assess the competences, needs, and limitations of people affected by trauma, referring the patients to specialised trauma services where appropriate.
Advise on healthcare users’ informed consent: Ensure patients/clients are fully informed about the risks and benefits of proposed treatments so they can give informed consent, engaging patients/clients in the process of their care and treatment.
Work on psychosomatic issues: Work with body and mind issues such as the spectrum of human sexuality and psychosomatic ailments.
Comply with quality standards related to healthcare practice: Apply quality standards related to risk management, safety procedures, patients feedback, screening and medical devices in daily practice, as they are recognized by the national professional associations and authorities.
Comply with legislation related to health care: Comply with the regional and national legislation that is relevant to one`s work and apply it in practice.
Listen actively: Give attention to what other people say, patiently understand points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times; able to listen carefully the needs of customers, clients, passengers, service users or others, and provide solutions accordingly.
Manage personal professional development: Take responsibility for lifelong learning and continuous professional development. Engage in learning to support and update professional competence. Identify priority areas for professional development based on reflection about own practice and through contact with peers and stakeholders.
Adhere to organisational guidelines: Adhere to organisational or department specific standards and guidelines. Understand the motives of the organisation and the common agreements and act accordingly.
Counsel clients: Assist and guide clients to overcome their personal, social, or psychological issues.
Monitor therapeutic progress: Monitor therapeutic progress and modify treatment according to each patient’s condition.
Perform therapy sessions: Work in sessions with individuals or groups to deliver therapy in a controlled environment.
Work in a multicultural environment in health care: Interact, relate and communicate with individuals from a variety of different cultures, when working in a healthcare environment.
Conceptualise healthcare user’s needs: Get an idea of what the healthcare user needs are and visualise the case, the possible solutions, and treatments to be applied.
Record the outcome of psychotherapy: Keep track of and record the process and results of the treatment used in the psychotherapy process.
Facilitate the psychological development of the healthcare user: Facilitate the process of self-discovery for the healthcare user, helping them to learn about their condition and become more aware of and in control of moods, feelings, thoughts, behaviour, and their origins. Help the healthcare user learn to manage problems and difficulties with greater resilience.
Reflect on practice: Routinely evaluate own practice, critically evaluating and monitoring the practice methods and outcomes in consistent, coherent and appropriate ways, being aware of relevant methodologies and utilising feedback from managers, supervisors, other professionals, and patients/clients, in order to adapt the practice accordingly.
Promote mental health: Promote factors that enhance emotional well-being such as self-acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, control of one`s environment, spirituality, self-direction and positive relationships.
Interact with healthcare users: Communicate with clients and their carer’s, with the patient’s permission, to keep them informed about the clients’ and patients’ progress and safeguarding confidentiality.
Organise relapse prevention: Help the patient or client identify and anticipate high risk situations or external and internal triggers. Support them in developing better coping strategies and back-up plans in case of future difficulties.
Provide treatment strategies for challenges to human health: Identify possible treatment protocols for the challenges to human health within a given community in cases such as infectious diseases of high consequences at the global level.
Ensure safety of healthcare users: Make sure that healthcare users are being treated professionally, effectively and safe from harm, adapting techniques and procedures according to the person’s needs, abilities or the prevailing conditions.
Develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship: Develop a mutually collaborative therapeutic relationship during treatment, fostering and gaining healthcare users’ trust and cooperation.
Keep up with current trends in psychotherapy: Keep up with current trends and debates in mental health services, being aware of changes in social, cultural, and political thinking about psychotherapy and of the interplay of various theories. Stay informed about increases in the demand for counselling and psychotherapies, and be aware of evidence-based research, the appropriate measurement tools for psychotherapy, and the need for research.
Apply context specific clinical competences: Apply professional and evidence based assessment, goal setting, delivery of intervention and evaluation of clients, taking into account the developmental and contextual history of the clients, within one`s own scope of practice.
Discuss the end point of therapeutic intervention: Identify a possible end point of therapeutic interventions with the patient in accordance with their original goals.
Motivate patiens: Encourage the patient’s motivation to change and promote the belief that therapy can help, using techniques and treatment engagement procedures for this purpose.
Conduct psychotherapy risk assessments: Conduct risk assessment procedures, making use of any tools or guidelines. Recognise language used by the patient that might imply harm to self or others asking direct questions if required. Facilitate the process of getting the patient to discuss any thoughts of suicide, and quantify the likelihood of these being put to practice.’
Decide upon a psychotherapeutic approach: Make an informed choice about which type of psychotherapeutic intervention to apply when working with patients, according to their needs.
Accept own accountability: Accept accountability for one`s own professional activities and recognise the limits of one`s own scope of practice and competencies.
Promote psycho-social education: Explain mental health issues in simple and understandable ways, helping de-pathologise and de-stigmatise common mental health stereotypes and condemning prejudicial or discriminatory behaviours, systems, institutions, practices, and attitudes that are clearly separatist, abusive or harmful to people’s mental health or their social inclusion.

Optional knowledge and skills

Optional knowledge

This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of psychotherapist. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Psychomotor therapy: Psychomotor observation and therapy in adults, children and persons with an intellectual disability meant to tackle the psychiatric problems of a person.
Geriatrics: Geriatrics is a medical specialty mentioned in the EU Directive 2005/36/EC.
Paediatrics: Paediatrics is a medical specialty mentioned in the EU Directive 2005/36/EC.
Rehabilitation: The methods and procedures used to help an ill or injured person restore lost skills and regain self-sufficiency and control.
Pedagogy: The discipline that concerns the theory and practice of education including the various instructional methods for educating individuals or groups.
Psychoanalysis: The types of psychoanalytic theories and techniques that relate to the unconscious mental processes

Optional skills and competences

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of psychotherapist. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Educate on the prevention of illness: Offer evidence-based advice on how to avoid ill health, educate and advise individuals and their carers on how to prevent ill health and/or be able to advise how to improve their environment and health conditions. Provide advice on the identification of risks leading to ill health and help to increase the patients’ resilience by targeting prevention and early intervention strategies.
Inform policy makers on health-related challenges: Provide useful information related to health care professions to ensure policy decisions are made in the benefit of communities.
Employ cognitive behaviour treatment techniques: Employ cognitive behavioural treatment techniques for those whose treatment involves cognitive re-training, addressing dysfunctional emotions, maladaptive behaviours and cognitive processes and contents through a variety of systematic procedures.
Apply hypno-psychotherapy: Hypnotise a patient to create subconscious change in the form of new responses, thoughts, attitudes, behaviours or feelings.
Ensure proper appointment administration: Set up a proper procedure to manage appointments, including policies related to cancellation and nonappearance.
Deal with emergency care situations: Assess the signs and be well-prepared for a situation that poses an immediate threat to a person’s health, security, property or environment.

 
Help healthcare users to develop social perceptiveness: Provide strategies and support to healthcare users with social difficulties, helping them understand others` verbal and non-verbal behaviour and actions and guiding them in learning to interpret a combination people`s words, tone of voice, body language, gestures, and facial expressions; while developing better self-confidence in social situations.
Provide health education: Provide evidence based strategies to promote healthy living, disease prevention and management.
Diagnose mental disorders: Formulate a diagnosis for people with a variety of issues and mental disorders, ranging from short-term personal and emotional problems to severe, chronic mental conditions, recognising and critically evaluating any possible mental health issues.
Apply caseload management: Manage a number of patients within a given amount of time, striving to provide optimum health services.
Collaborate to discuss treatment plans in psychotherapy: Discuss, if appropriate, treatment plans and progress with physicians, psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses and other professionals.
Record healthcare users’ billing information: Record the healthcare user`s information for the billing of provided medical services.
Work on the effects of abuse: Work with individuals on the effects of abuse and trauma such as sexual, physical, psychological, cultural and neglect.
Apply health sciences: Apply a broad range of bio-medical, psycho-social, organisational, educational, and societal aspects of health, disease, and healthcare to improve healthcare services and to improve quality of life.
Promote inclusion: Promote inclusion in health care and social services and respect diversity of beliefs, culture, values and preferences, keeping in mind the importance of equality and diversity issues.
Employ foreign languages for health-related research: Use foreign languages for conducting and collaborating in health-related research.
Apply organisational techniques: Employ a set of organisational techniques and procedures which facilitate the achievement of the goals set. Use these resources efficiently and sustainably, and show flexibility when required.
Work with healthcare users’ social network: Get involved with the friends, families and other relevant actors important for the client or patient being treated, under the conditions of confidentiality and transparency.
Apply systemic therapy: Conduct therapy, not addressing people on a strictly individual level but as people in relationships, dealing with the interactions of groups and their interactive patterns and dynamics.
Employ foreign languages in care: Communicate in foreign languages with healthcare users, their carers, or services providers. Use foreign languages to faciliate patient care according to the needs of the patient.
Work in multidisciplinary health teams: Participate in the delivery of multidisciplinary health care, and understand the rules and competences of other healthcare related professions.
Apply psychoanalysis: Conduct psychoanalysis on patients, focusing on unconscious forces that can have a negative effect on their psychological well-being.

ISCO group and title

2634 – Psychologists

 

 


 

 

References
  1. Psychotherapist – ESCO
Last updated on August 8, 2022