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Psychotherapy in the Philippines

June 16, 2012 Aleah 8 Comments

Psychotherapy is a broad term that refers to the therapeutic interventions or treatments made between a trained practitioner and a client, family or a group of individuals.

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Basically, psychotherapy aims to improve a person’s well-being by employing a wide range of different techniques mainly by building a mutually beneficial relationship between the client and the trained professional, creating an open and honest communication between them, and encouraging behavior changes especially intended to improve the client’s mental health or sometimes to build a harmonious and nurturing environment among family members and colleagues.

Psychotherapy can be performed by professionals with a number of varying qualifications including mental health counseling, school and rehabilitation counseling and psychiatric nursing.

When understood better, this field plays a vital role among Filipinos since it is well known that there is already an increasing number of psychological disturbances our countrymen are suffering from.

Are Filipinos open with this form of treatment? What do they think about this?

Of course, we all have different perspectives towards this issue. Generally, in spite of huge developments on Philippine’s health system, there still remains to have a poor understanding and acceptance because of several contributing factors.

One negating factor is due to the society’s low-level of awareness on these medical support. We cannot hide the fact that there are still quite a number of regions or far-flung communities where medical assistance remains to be a dream, a vision alone.

There are still areas in the country that are not yet reached by proper authorities to give even a single shot of a flu vaccine. How can one opt for psychotherapy when they can barely eat three times daily?

So instead of psychotherapy a lot of people, especially in far-flung areas, choose alternative treatments in the form of herbal healing, while others perform cult healing. With this, matched with unstable health insurance system and delayed action from some of the government officials have reduced the chances of having some formal institutes for psychotherapy and this explains why the country has no training ground for people interested in practicing such medical field.

It is also hard to suggest on having formal psychotherapy in the Philippines because as we all know Filipino mentality is circulated on excuses when it comes to behavior modifications and when subjected to various psychological treatments. Some people are being ashamed to be tagged as having mental disorder when actually he is only consulting for some minor psychological help.

Stereotyping and stigma are also two of the hindrances that pose a great barricade in consulting problems that need to be addressed. It’s about time to change all these mentalities and move closer to a better understanding of the benefits one can avail with improved health care system such as introducing formal psychotherapy in the country.

Filed Under: Philippine Psychology Tagged With: Philippines, psychotherapy

Comments

  1. Lucille Roque says

    May 27, 2018 at 11:29 pm

    Hi Aleah,

    I’m actually interested to be a psychotherapist, but I don’t know where to begin. I’m a degree holder for Elem educ major in SpEd. I’ve asked a friend of mine who took up psychology but she’s not sure what should I take if I’m aiming for psychotherapy degree. I also asked a psychologist from my former company he advised me to try ABA (applied behavior analysis) first since it’s in line with my degree instead of going another more years to be a psychotherapist. I’ve been wanting to take up online class for CBT but the one available online for Beck institute says that I must be at least somewhere in the field of psychologist to have the educ credits. I’m sorry if I’ve been sprouting lots of story time but it would be a great help if you can enlighten me. Hoping for your response.

    Respectfully,

    Lucille

    Reply
    • Aleah says

      August 13, 2018 at 2:42 am

      Hi Lucille. My educational background is Clinical Psychology. There’s also Counseling Psych. You can practice with an MA or a PhD or PsyD. Basically, it just depends on which school you’re planning to apply and which area of concentration you want to focus on. So yeah, get an MA/PhD in Clinical Psychology or Counseling Psychology. That’s what I would do.

      Reply
      • Uni says

        May 25, 2021 at 3:21 pm

        Hi! May I ask if there is no specific degree (Bachelors or MA) in Psychotherapy in the Philippines?

        Reply
    • Bea says

      October 13, 2020 at 11:23 am

      same question

      Reply
  2. Saud Ahmad says

    May 10, 2019 at 10:08 am

    Well said ma’am, i Hope one day psychotherapy will be known and here in our country. More mental health practitioners to come and now that the Mental Health Law is being implemented, i can see a bright future for this kind of intervention and more opportunities for us mental heath practioners.

    Reply
  3. Ky says

    May 29, 2019 at 5:04 pm

    Hello! I am in incoming Grade 12 student and for college as of now the course that I am really aiming for is Psychology. I basically want to have a job which is more in line with talking to people about their problems and possibly treating them. I’m having a hard time understanding if this job that I want is being a therapist or a psychologist. Can you suggest for me to take a MA and PsyD because from what I have heard PsyD is more on the clinical psych which i prefer, or should I take MA and PhD? Thankyou:)

    Reply
  4. Jon says

    October 27, 2020 at 6:13 pm

    I would like to ask if the practice of Psychotherapy can do only by the Registered Psychologist (in line with RA 11029) or not?

    Reply
    • Aleah says

      May 25, 2021 at 5:50 pm

      Yes. Those with a Ph.D. can also practice.

      Reply

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About Me

aleah

I'm a mental health counselor with years of experience handling physically and sexually abused women and children. I have training in solution-focused therapy and child-led play therapy. I conduct psychological evaluations for children presenting with a wide array of symptoms and concerns.

I'm also a trainer specializing on domestic abuse, child sexual abuse prevention, and gender-based violence. As a freelance writer, I write about psychology, solo travel, and running.

If you wish to contact me, email me at aleahphils@gmail(dot)com, or leave a comment in any of the articles here. I will get back to you!

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