Most commonly, therapeutic sessions are guided by a single psychologist, however, there are situations in which having two professionals (co-therapy) can be of great benefit to both the patient and therapists.
Carl Whitaker, a pioneer of family therapy, was one of the first to emphasize the need to approach two professionals, so he developed a co-therapy model that was one of the great contributions to family therapy.
- Cotherapy is the application of therapy by two professionals.
- Either for a single person.
- For a couple or a group.
- Therapists work together.
- Integrated and synergistically to achieve a common goal.
- Which is usually patient improvement and their disorder or problem.
When we talk about two professionals we usually refer to a couple of psychologists, who may or may not belong to the same therapeutic current, in addition, both can be experts or one can be an apprentice, which is common in family and couple therapy. therapy, for example.
The couple may also be made up of a pharmacotherapist (psychiatrist) and a psychotherapist (psychologist). This combination is most common in cases of more serious mental disorders that require drug treatment in addition to psychological treatment.
We can also talk about co-therapy when we form a person who is part of the patient’s circle to act as our collaborator, i. e. a person who is not a professional in the field. In this way, it can help the patient perform the tasks required in therapy. Exposure exercises can be done together in aphobic treatment, for example.
This also happens if treatment is applied to a child, particularly in the treatment of children with autism, nocturnal enuresis or intellectual disability. It is essential that parents and/or teachers are trained and act as co-therapists to continue treatment outside the office.
This is also important for the elderly, especially when they have some form of dementia, the formation of family members and caregivers allows them to adapt to the pathology of the patient, learn to face and improve the life and environment of the patient. continue with the necessary home treatment and cognitive stimulation activities.
The presence of two therapists offers great benefits, not only for patients, but also for the therapists themselves.
As mentioned above, one option is for therapy to be applied by two psychologists, very common in family and partner therapy, and is common in other cases for disorders that do not require additional drug treatment.
In couples therapy and family therapy, having two psychologists allows them to act as role models for the couple. This can help with some problems and allows the patient (or partner) to have two different perspectives on the topic they brought to the appointment.
It also allows therapists to act as role models for parents and role models for interactions with children. One of the main advantages of applying therapy by two psychologists is that it is easier to avoid possible confrontations, such as between one partner and the therapist ?the other member of the couple.
Perhaps one of the best known therapies, directed by two therapists of different genders, is the Sex Therapy by William Masters and Virginia Johnson, designed in 1970 for the treatment of sexual dysfunction; However, couples therapy was first proposed by Mittelman in 1948 and applied by himself in 1961.
In this case, co-therapy consists of an integration between pharmacological and psychological therapy, this is necessary, especially in cases of more serious mental disorders that require multidisciplinary intervention.
In these cases, medication administration improves certain symptoms that can interfere with a person’s normal life development and therefore allows patients to be more likely to respond to psychotherapy. Similarly, psychotherapy can help improve understanding of the need to take medications. and improve adherence to drug treatment.
There are a wide variety of disorders that benefit from this therapeutic discipline, including:
It is clear that not all treatments or therapies should be applied by a partner, even from the point of view of systemic technical integration (in which a treatment technique is chosen depending on the type of client or patient), this can be counterproductive.
However, as we have seen, there are a wide variety of disorders that best respond to professionally guided therapies, whether it’s two psychologists, a psychologist and a psychiatrist, or a person close to the patient trained to assist in their treatment. Therefore, it is an option that we must take into account when treating certain disorders or patients.
Like any therapy or treatment, it also presents difficulties, mainly because of the relationship between therapists, so if you decide to use co-therapy, it should not be forgotten that it is a context of collaboration, coordination, camaraderie and articulation and complementarity. work for the benefit of the patient.