Psychotherapy

Since a different kind of life problems and goals that our clients want to achieve, Epistema has different modes of individual and group psychotherapy treatment to offer: Epistemological therapy (ET), Rational emotional and cognitive behavioral therapy (REKBT), Transactional analysis (TA), Family and couple therapy, as well as two consultation departments – adolescents, and family and marriage.

EPISTEMOLOGICAL THERAPY

This is a new approach in psychotherapy, and its author is prof. dr Milan Milić, founder of Epistema. The primary goal of this psychotherapeutic treatment is to get knowledge (justified truthful belief), at first about the client himself, and secondarily about the world. This the reason why this therapy has the name epystemologica – from the ancient greek word episteme (knowledge). Getting this knowledge means that client must face his ignorance, pseudo knowledge, and denying of available truths, which, in fact, are all lies in whose he believes. This therapy rest on assumption that this lies is a core reason for client problems, and that disclosure of these lies will set him free to resolve his problems. But this is not as simple as it looks. Namely, if the client only recognizes lies in whose he lives, and implicitly understand truth from whose he runs, this is not enough. He must believe in this truth, and when he succeeds, he completes the definition of knowledge – justified truthful beliefs. So this therapy is essentially truth therapy.

Regarding that revealing truth about yourself can be a longterm process, Epistemological therapy is very demanding for the client, and the therapist also. But, despite this relatively long way to go, Epistemological therapy can make possible more achievements than some other less demanding therapy, resolving problems in its origin. On the other side, Epistemological therapy is recommendable to persons who do not have any defined psychological problems, but they are aware of the importance to work on personal growth and development. Revealing the truth of yourself as a philosophical background, but also practical implications because it gives answers to the next eternal question: What can I know? What should I do? What should I hope for? (Kant)

RATIONALE EMOTIONAL AND COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY (RECBT)

RECBT is a psychotherapeutic approach that includes the active role of both therapist and client in achieving the defined therapeutic goal. RECBT rests on a few basic principles:

• Beliefs that we have about ourselves, other people, and the world are learned through our lives. When they are irrational, meaning not based on reality, they are cause for psychological suffering. These beliefs can be changed, to become more flexible, providing a less rigid, and more adapt the view to life. The final result of this change should be a positive movement to the improvement of emotional and behavioral aspects of a person’s functioning.
• Our beliefs are closely connected to how we feel and behave. That means that some events by themselves have no influence on our internal world, yet our interpretations of these events dictate what emotional and behavioral consequences will be about them.
• RECBT is directed to here and now. As such, this approach makes it possible for clients to reveal their beliefs and estimate their reality, logic, and usefulness.
• Everyone of us is responsible for how he feels and behave. Reactions of other people and events by themselves can not relieve us from the responsibility for how we feel and behave. That is why every person can choose and learn how to stand in front of what is happening to him.

RECBT is effective in resolving different psychological problems, such as: anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, procrastination, jealousy, personality disorders, stress management, etc.

TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS (TA)

TA is a psychotherapeutic approach, respectively theory of personality, in which social interactions are used as a frame to investigate Ego states of the client. The ego state represents a group of mutually connected thinking, feelings, and behavior. TA recognizes three such states – parent, adult, and child.

• Parent is Ego state where a person thinks, feels, and behaves in a way that his parents do. This form of Ego state is unconscious.
• Adult is Ego state where a person think, feel, and behave in accordance to the actual situation, and relay on the capacity of a person as an adult human being.
• Child is Ego state which represent thinking, feeling and behavior adopted in childhood.

The transactional analysis starts from the assumption that every person in his early childhood creates his life story (script). During maturation, the script can be changed. As adults, people can not remember their script, but they consistently stand by it. In a purpose to sustain this script, even when circumstances show their inadequacy, a person can try to redefine script in a way to adopt reality to script. Further, this maneuver creates fertile ground for the development of different psychological problems.

TA has another basic assumption, which said that everyone has the right to exist and to be accepted as it is, to start from the basic assumption, feel, behave freely, and to take steps forward to improve his life quality. Simultaneously, TA stands that everyone is responsible for his internal experiences.

The transactional analysis helps the client to reveal a way that was crucial for creating his personality, what kind of relationship he has with himself and other people. Such as that, TA is effective in individual, group, couple, and family therapy. It means also that it is useful in almost all psychological problems, as well as resolving everyday troubles.