Supportive Psychotherapy

Supportive psychotherapy is a psychotherapeutic approach that integrates several therapeutic schools, including psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral traditions, alongside interpersonal conceptual models and techniques. Its aim is to reduce or relieve the intensity of a patient's presenting symptoms, distress or disability, and to reduce behavioral disruption caused by the patient's underlying psychic conflicts; unlike psychoanalysis, where the analyst maintains a neutral demeanor as a blank canvas for transference, the supportive therapist engages the patient in a fully emotional, encouraging and supportive relationship as a way of strengthening healthy defense mechanisms, especially within interpersonal relationships. It can be used to treat a variety of physical, mental and emotional conditions, with therapists using a range of strategies and techniques aimed at reinforcing a patient's healthy and adaptive patterns of thought and behavior in order to reduce the intrapsychic conflicts that produce symptoms of mental disorders.