Term for a wide range of therapeutic activities within a dyadic process of private and confidential dialogue on issues relevant to a person seeking help - the client - and intended to help a client resolve life issues with the assistance of a person trained in this specific form of professional work, the therapist.
The term psychotherapy is not as specific as the term psychoanalysis which refers to a methodology pioneered by Freud within a strong theoretical framework.
There are many schools of thought within psychotherapy, not all of them psychodynamic.
Recently the government of Ontario re-defined what psychtherpy is in these words:
"The practice of psychotherapy is the assessment and treatment of cognitive, emotional or behavioural disturbances by psychotherapeutic means, delivered through a therapeutic relationship based primarily on verbal or non-verbal communication" Section (3) Registered Health Practitioners Act Ontario
For more information, refer to this glossary and also visit the sidebar menu items on psychotherapy. There are extensive Wikipedia articles and many other internet based sources as well.
