Aroa Granados: «Psychology can provide a deeper vision»

Psychotherapy is a field of work that is as fascinating as it is complex in many ways; perhaps for this reason the figure of the psychologist continues to be surrounded by many myths.

And it is that going to the psychotherapist implies putting into practice mental health strategies and solutions that are not as easy to understand as getting an injection or taking a pill periodic. The work of the psychologist who attends patients has to do with intervening in more abstract elements than hormones, cells or organs of the body.

But the truth is that, once the step of going to the psychologist to treat emotional, behavioral or communication problems has been taken, detecting improvements in one's own mental health is not as difficult as understanding what psychotherapy is before having gone to the psychologist for the first time time. We will talk about it with the psychologist Aroa Granados, who will tell us about the benefits and uses of psychotherapy.

• Related article: "The 10 benefits of going to psychological therapy"

Interview with Aroa Granados: the advantages of attending psychological therapy

Aroa Granados is a psychologist with more than a decade of experience in the sector, Director of TCO Psychology and Coaching, and trainer; offers therapy to adults and the elderly, and currently serves primarily through the online modality by video call. In this interview she tells us about the potential of psychotherapy as a tool for support, prevention and reinforcement of mental health.

Is the belief that psychological therapy is only useful for mental disorders still very valid?

Unfortunately yes, there are still many people who think that they should only go to psychological therapy if the suffering is so great that it has conditioned almost all areas of their lives.

However, even when this situation is reached, the first professional to go to is the primary care doctor, generally in search of medication. Unfortunately, the use of psychoactive drugs is more standardized than psychological therapy. In fact, many of the people who go to therapy do so hidden from their family or acquaintances.

But it's not all bad news. Fortunately, especially after the pandemic, more and more cases of people who are undergoing psychological treatment are being heard; public figures who tell their experience, the benefits of therapy are exposed in the media. An awareness campaign is being carried out on the importance of taking care of the mind, and that gives a lot of hope.

What are some of the most frequent reasons why people request your services as a psychologist?

Most of my patients come for two main reasons: the main one, a problem of emotional management, and the second, a problem of existential emptiness.

Most of the people who come to me have an emotional dysregulation problem, either due to excessive activation (for example, anxiety, anger, lack of impulse control, obsessive thoughts, guilt...) or hypoactivation (apathy, sadness, anhedonia, depression, locks…).

In these cases I work from the most scientific cognitive behavioral model but applying third generation techniques. such as Mindfulness or Acceptance and Commitment, which have some procedures that, in my opinion, are warmer and humans.

The problems of existential emptiness (not knowing what to do with your life, feeling lost) I address from Acceptance and Commitment fundamentally working to find a vital compass through values personal.

In all cases I always work to find the essence of the person and change it profoundly from the "who I want to be” and not from the “who should be” because sometimes the goals of therapy are still prisoners of the canons social.

How can the theoretical and practical principles of psychotherapy be applied to, for example, the field of business and job performance?

What psychotherapy can apply in the workplace is a deep and stable change instead of "putting on patches". A change that helps not only the performance of companies but also the work environment and the comprehensive well-being of its employees.

On many occasions, company problems have been treated as symptoms that must be “tackled” with quick workshops on, for example, conflict resolution; assertive communication skills; negotiation… that teach specific techniques but that do not work in the long run. It's like if they give you a wrench and tell you to fix an engine without teaching you mechanical knowledge.

Psychology can bring deeper insight, teach why those problems are created, how they are being maintained, how to fix them, and then yes, teach those various techniques.

What are the main therapeutic resources that allow people to improve social and communication skills?

Work thoughts and emotions. Most people know how to communicate properly, they know how to make requests, how to say no, how to argue… the question is: why don't we do it? For everything we tell ourselves "I can't", "I'm afraid", "I'm sure he'll get angry", "I'm not capable", "it's going to go wrong", "it's not going to help"... and emotions such as the fear that blocks us, the anger that takes over us...

You can know a lot of theory. There are many social skills manuals that you can refer to. But none of that matters if you feel and believe that you can't do it. For this reason, we always work on internal dialogue, thought errors, limiting beliefs, emotional management, social skills and exposure.

Continuing with the example of the motor: before giving him the tool (technique of saying no; assertive change request; time out...), I teach mechanics. In this case, I show you how the human brain works and how we learn.

From what you have been seeing in your career as a psychologist, the progress made in psychotherapy usually goes hand in hand with a improvement of the patient's family relationships, or to achieve that kind of effects it is always necessary to go to therapy family?

If you change everything changes.

I always say never underestimate our personal power. I have seen great changes in couples or entire families with just one member going to therapy.

Our relationships are a certain way because there is a functional relationship between the actions of one and the actions of the other. For example, a discussion is a matter of two. If we change one of the variables in that relationship (the behavior of a person), inevitably the whole system changes.

Therefore, even if your problem is with your partner or family and they do not want to go to therapy, it does not matter: if you change everything changes.

How do you get the positive effects of psychotherapy to persist once you have stopped attending sessions with the psychologist?

I apply three fundamental steps. First, psychoeducation: teaching the patient why he does what he does, how he maintains himself over time, analyzing her behavior and extrapolating everything learned to all areas of her life.

Secondly, follow-up: spacing out the sessions over time once the objectives have been achieved to ensure that the changes are maintained and applied to new situations.

The third step is to set alarms; One of the actions that I carry out in my discharge processes is to create a list of alarms that “go off” at the moment in which the patient may have a relapse. When they are activated, he puts into action everything he has learned and if he cannot do it alone, he contacts me for a reinforcement session.