Psychotherapy is commonly used to treat various emotional problems and mental illnesses, such as:

• Depressive disorders. Chronic conditions marked by feelings of sadness, anger or frustration that may interfere with a person’s life. These include dysthymia, major depression, bipolar disorder, postpartum depression and seasonal affective disorder.
  

  

• Anxiety disorders. Emotional disorders characterized by a debilitating and disruptive anxiety that can interfere with a patient’s daily activities. Types of anxiety disorders include phobias, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
  
  
• Personal stress. Many normal life situations and relationships may become aggravated enough to benefit from professional help. Grief, marital or other relationship issues and job-related stress are just a few of the problems handled in psychotherapy.
  
  
• Eating disorders. These involve serious disturbances in eating behavior including unhealthy reduction of food intake (anorexia nervosa), severe overeating and/or dangerous methods to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting (bulimia nervosa).
  
  
• Schizophrenia. A complex and disabling psychiatric disorder that impacts a person’s ability to distinguish between real and unreal experiences, think logically, have normal emotional responses and behave appropriately in social situations.
  
  
• Borderline personality disorder (BPD). A condition that causes patients to have periods of unstable emotions that seriously affect their lives.
  
  
• Insomnia. The inability to sleep for a reasonable amount of time to maintain adequate restfulness.
  
  
• Substance abuse. The chronic use of a substance, usually alcohol or drugs, which alters mood or behavior and causes significant harm in an individual’s life.