Supportive psychotherapy is a psychotherapeutic approach

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...

 that integrates psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and interpersonal

Interpersonal psychotherapy

Interpersonal Psychotherapy is a time-limited psychotherapy that focuses on the interpersonal context and on building interpersonal skills. IPT is based on the belief that interpersonal factors may contribute heavily to psychological problems. It is commonly distinguished from other forms of...

 conceptual models and techniques. The objective of the therapist is to reinforce the patient's healthy and adaptive patterns of thought

Cognitive therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach: a talking therapy. CBT aims to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure in the present...

 behaviors in order to reduce the intrapsychic conflicts

Intrapsychic

Intrapsychic is a psychological term referring to internal psychological processes of the individual. These processes can be positive , negative or neutral....

 that produce symptoms of mental disorders. Unlike in psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...

, in which the analyst works to maintain a neutral demeanor as a "blank canvas" for transference

Transference

Transference is a phenomenon in psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is "the...

, in supportive therapy the therapist engages in a fully emotional, encouraging, and supportive relationship with the patient as a method of furthering healthy defense mechanisms, especially in the context of interpersonal relationships.

Main uses

As initial-therapy, to be reduced and not to be prolonged, used in situations or periods where there is a lack of means for: systematic approach, behaviorism

Behaviorism

Behaviorism , also called the learning perspective , is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things that organisms do—including acting, thinking, and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors, and that psychological disorders are best treated by altering behavior...

. Examples of such situations:

• critical negotiations
• volatile but unavoidable everyday life or decisive situations
• compromises (to introduce at least minimal operational, efficient relationship conditions) in long term, engaged relationships, based on lasting agreements