We have all seen psychotherapies in movies, if not in real life (thankfully). The imagination keeps it cool for us; serene setting, a comfy couch, a gentle shrink asking you about your past and opening the knots in your head. Slowly and eventually, you end up feeling better. However, in reality, a psychotherapy can be a lot more than that. There are some international techniques that are strange yet legal in a many countries.
1. Puppet Therapy
When: Used in case of patients who have a secretive or traumatic background and find it difficult to open up.
Why: These people find it easier to share emotions with a toy/puppet rather than a real person (who can judge them for their acts).
How: Psychologists hand out puppets with different names and personalities and the patients can choose one for themselves according to their comfort level and interact with it.
2. Sexual Surrogacy
When: Patient is dealing with intimacy issues and finds it difficult to be sexually active.
Why: Professional aid in comforting a person can help them treat their sexual anxiety and work through intimacy issues.
How: It can range from kissing and gentle touching to a lot more. It is legal in America as per the American Psychological Association’s code of ethics.
3. Chess Therapy
When: To treat patients who have trouble in communicating verbally and for patients of ADHD (lack of concentration).
Why: The game represents real life situations and the patient’s moves can be assessed to evaluate their issues.
How: Allows patients to act out fantasies and explore impulses leading to a clear evaluation of their insights.
4. Medical Marijuana
When: To treat the patients of depression and melancholia.
Why: THC which is the main ingredient in marijuana, when given in small quantity can help increase ‘serotonin’ which is a feel-good chemical in the brain.
How: Prescribed marijuana is often smoked in small quantities to give temporary relief to the patients.
5. Nude Therapy
When: Practiced by the liberal activists in the 1960’s and now by a reformed group in the Human Awareness Institute in California.
Why: To emphasize on moving beyond social expectations created by clothing and connecting with your private emotions.
How: By shedding clothes people could explore many repressed thoughts and attain a stage of self-actualization.
6. Hypnotherapy
When: To reach the subconscious of a patient in order to solve their phobias or drug addiction.
Why: Helps patients in changing unwanted behaviour by suggesting new and improved behaviour through meditation.
How: Psychotherapists believe that in the stage of hypnosis (when patients are relaxed and sensitive to suggestions) they can uncover subconscious negativity and replace it.
7. Wilderness Therapy
When: In case of offenders, juvenile delinquents, teens with depression, anger management issues or eating disorder.
Why: It can teach life skills to people through a creative way when all the other methods have failed.
How: Mixing therapy with brutal outdoor activities like hiking, mountain climbing and fly-fishing in military-style boot camps can help patients by keeping them busy with a treatment focused on bringing behavioral change.
8. Magic Mushrooms
When: In cases of chronic sadness and depression.
Why: A certain category of mushrooms contain a psychoactive substance called psilocybin which causes intense elation & hallucinations (tripping) leading to upliftment in the patient’s mental state.
How: Psilocybin, when consumed as a drug or supplied through intravenous numbs the region of the brain leading to negative activities and induces a happy feel in a person’s brain.
Even though these treatments are legalised in a few places only. Their high success rate has made them popular in many parts of the world. As a result, many independent groups have started practising many of these techniques by forming a support groups.
So, which one do you want to try first?
😉
