Everybody needs somebody sometime. But if Dean Martin isn’t handy, perhaps you’ll consider a form of psychotherapy, a term used to describe a variety of treatments for mental illnesses and behaviors.

Psychotherapy, often shortened to just “therapy,” typically involves talking to a mental health professional about life and its problems. It also may combine talk and medications. The talk part of the therapy usually is a guided tour that seeks to help the sufferer identify the causes of pain and aims to find a solution to cope with it.

The key to psychotherapy is understanding the root causes of behaviors, ideas and emotions that cause mental distress, and then finding ways to avoid its triggers and identifying which aspects can be improved. This helps the patient gain a sense of control and hopefully prepares him or her to move forward with confidence. Solutions aren’t easy to come by, but recognizing the problems is a step toward solving them.

Four Main Types of Therapy

There are four main types of therapy. Individual treatment involves one-on-one interactions between the patient and therapist. Group therapy is two or more people sharing experiences and helping each other compare past reactions. Couples or marital therapy involves talking about communication among spouses and behaviors that may be modified, and family therapy involves a coordinated discussion among family members on issues that affect one or more members.

Some people may be more comfortable sharing intimate details privately, while others crave the dynamics and comparative histories that groups share. The goals are all the same, but the path to achieving results differs. Your personal preference will determine which is right for you.