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To fully understand psychotherapy and counseling, it can be helpful to explore its past, present, and future. This timeline will give you a richer understanding of what counseling is and how it evolved.

Before Freud and other early psychologists such as Wilhelm Wundt, philosophy was the closest relative to therapy. It was the only field that explored human behavior and mental health.

“Psychology is an offshoot of philosophy,” psychologist Bart Rossi told The Luthas Center.

Rossi cited schools of philosophy such as rationalism and empiricism. He also said philosophers including Immanuel Kant contributed to the development of therapy.

One of the best examples of philosophy informing psychotherapy is existential therapy, which is derived from existential philosophy. Existential psychotherapist Irvin Yalom, who shaped the field, said existential philosophers such as Nietzsche inspired his work.

Therapy during Freud’s time and the 20th century

Because Freud was a psychiatrist, and invented psychoanalysis, early psychotherapy was mostly about reducing symptoms. It followed a medical model rather than the wellness model we more frequently see today. Therapy was for “patients” with diagnosable mental illnesses, not clients who see a therapist for a multitude of reasons.

“I think in the past, therapy was centered around ‘fixing’ what was ‘wrong’ with people,” said therapist Kristen Martinez. “ thought they were the healthy ones, and psychotherapy focused on getting ‘unhealthy’ people to be healthy like them.”

Progress of therapy

Modern psychotherapy tends to balance the wellness and medical model. Therapists want to reduce symptoms in people dealing with mental illness, but they’re squarely centered on the needs and direction of the client.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) changed the definition of counseling, according to Rossi. It is now more behavior-focused and psychodynamic approaches have become less common.

The advent of online therapy has also appended what therapy is and how it is delivered. Although prior definitions of therapy did not explicitly describe it as occurring solely in-person, therapy required in-office visits because distance counseling was not easily facilitated before the development of the internet.

Earlier therapy definitions also implied counseling could only take place only via “sessions,” where the therapist and client scheduled a meeting or phone call at a specific time. Because of technology and approaches such as the text therapy The Luthas Center offers, counseling no longer requires set sessions.

The future of therapy

While psychotherapy isn’t going anywhere there are some trends that will expand the definition of what is possible in therapy.

Here are some trends that might contribute to the evolution of psychotherapy and counseling in the future:

• Additional technological advances in online counseling
• Virtual reality
• Integration of medical care
• More focus on the therapeutic relationship
• Increased cultural consideration
• New CBT approaches

Now that we’ve discussed what therapy is and is not and have established a common definition for psychotherapy, take a moment to think about what it might be able to do for you.