PSYCHOTHERAPY AND GENDER AWARENESS

Psychotherapy is any form of treatment for psychological, emotional, or behaviour disorders in which a trained person also called a psychotherapist who establishes a relationship with one or several patients for the purpose of modifying or removing existing symptoms and promoting personality growth. Psychotropic medications may be used as adjuncts to treatment, but the healing influence in psychotherapy is produced primarily by the words and actions of the therapist and the patient’s responses to them, which in combination are meant to create a safe, intimate and emotionally meaningful relationship for the open discussion and resolution of the patient’s concerns. Individual and group psychotherapeutic methods are used to treat many forms of psychological distress, in which the symptoms can be emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physical. These forms include behaviour disorders of children and adults; emotional reactions to the ordinary stresses, hardships, or crises of life; psychotic disorders (characterized by derangements of thinking and behaviour usually so severe as to require hospitalization); neurotic disorders such as anxiety and depression (chronic disorders of personal functioning often accompanied by bodily symptoms of emotional strain); addictions; psychosomatic disorders(in which physical symptoms are caused or aggravated by emotional components); and personality disorders (involving deeply ingrained maladaptive functioning). Psychotherapeutic principles are also emphasized in rehabilitation programs for mentally disabled and chronically ill individuals.

Gender awareness is the “ability to view society from the perspective of gender roles and how this has affected women’s needs in comparison to the needs of men”.Thus, gender awareness aims toward better health for men and women. Lack of gender awareness leads to gender bias and can contribute to unfair patient care. Gender awareness raising aims at increasing general sensitivity, understanding and knowledge about gender (in)equality. Awareness raising is a process which helps to facilitate the exchange of ideas, improve mutual understanding and develop competencies and skills necessary for societal change. Gender awareness raising means providing reliable and accessible information to build a better understanding of gender equality as a core value of democratic societies. As a gender-mainstreaming method, gender awareness raising is crucial for integrating a gender perspective into policies, programmes, projects and services that respond to the different needs of women and men.