Psychotherapy: What It Actually Is and How to Recognise It

Before talking about psychotherapy, it is worth understanding what it is — and what it is not. Dr. Saulitis explains this through a straightforward analogy and one clear principle: no amount of learning helps if the underlying "hardware" is not working.

Brain First, Everything Else Second

Psychotherapy only makes sense when the brain is already functioning. If the biological foundation is disrupted, no conversation or technique will produce results. The machine must be repaired first — normal brain function must be restored — before moving on to the next step.

Psychotherapy Is Education, Not Alchemy

Once the brain is working, psychotherapy is essentially education: the person is shown how their brain functions, how problematic states arise, and how to recognise them in themselves. No subjectivity, no alchemy — just information and principles.

Psychotherapy is entirely about education, about receiving information — we simply show the person the principles of how the brain works.

Dr. Saulitis compares this to learning to drive: first you fix the car, then you learn the rules of the road, and then you practise them. Theory plus practice — that is all there is to it.

How to Recognise Genuine Psychotherapy

Genuine psychotherapy can be recognised by several features:

• It begins after the person's condition has been stabilised (with medication if necessary).
• It explains to the person what is happening with them, rather than simply "processing" the past.
• It provides concrete tools: the person starts to notice their own states and learns to sustain the more functional ones.
• The outcome is that the person can apply what they have learned independently, rather than remaining dependent on a specialist.

The person begins to recognise these states within themselves and to look at how to maintain the state that is more functional.

Approaches that romanticise the psyche, involve lengthy "processing" of the past, or offer universal formulas ("three steps and you're done") do not meet this standard, in Dr. Saulitis's view — there are simply no fruits to show for them.

Education Means Both Theory and Practice

It is important to understand: framing psychotherapy as education does not diminish it — it makes it comprehensible. Education is a serious undertaking. It includes a theoretical component (understanding how the brain works) and a practical one (learning to apply that understanding in daily life). That is precisely why there are no quick fixes here — and that honesty matters.