What is a Clinical Psychologist or General Health Psychologist?

A Clinical Psychologist, in Catalan and Spanish known as General Health Psychologist (Psicòleg General Sanitari or Psicólogo General Sanitario), is a psychologist who has completed a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology or Master’s degree in Health Psychology, qualifying the practitioner to treat all types of difficulties and psychological disorders as a Clinical Psychologist (or General Health Psychologist).

What is a licensed psychotherapist?

To be certified as a licensed psychotherapist, one must be a psychologist, have developed proper training in a specific psychotherapeutic approach, and have worked as a psychotherapist for a period of time with a number of hours of supervision determined under this approach.

The most common accreditations are those offered by the European Federation of Psychotherapeutic Associations (EFPA), and the FEAP (Spanish Federation of Associations of Psychotherapists).

The latter grants accreditations according to the type of specialty carried out. For example, a psychologist who has been trained as a psychoanalyst will be certified to practice psychotherapy under that format, while a psychologist trained in one of the schools of humanistic psychotherapy will be certified to practice as a psychotherapist under that format.

What is psychotherapy or counseling?

Psychotherapy is an assistance-based bonding that is created between psychologist and client or patient, and through which the patient can be helped and advised in the aspects of their life identified in the initial request for help. It is a safe and respectful framework in which to be accompanied by professional psychotherapy.

When to see a psychotherapist?

It is advisable to have counseling when going through some kind of emotional difficulty in carrying out our day-to-day lives, as well as when experiencing some sort of symptom associated with a disorder, such as depression, anxiety, or trauma.

What is the Attachment Theory?

Attachment Theory is the study of the emotional relationship that is established between children and their mother, or their primary caregiver where it has not been the mother, during the first years of the child’s life. Attachment Theory was initially formulated by John Bowlby, and developed through the contributions of Mary Main, Mary Ainsworth, or Patricia Crittenden, among others.

Babies and later children regulate themselves through the attachment bonding with their mother, and later with their father, and depending on the quality of this bond they may develop a secure or insecure attachment style. The attachment style that is developed will condition our way of relating to others and regulating ourselves emotionally over all our lives. The development of an insecure style of attachment constitutes a risk factor that can cause the appearance of psychopathological disorders.

It is a field of psychology that has applicability in psychotherapy throughout our life span, that is, in all ages (children, adolescents, and adults), as well as couples and families, and combines the psychological look with neurobiology.

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