Psychotherapy is a voluntary relationship between a client seeking treatment and a therapist. It aims to solve psychological problems, change maladaptive behaviours, decrease personal distress, and help the client adapt better to their environment. It is a treatment for healing psychological distress and is not a homogenous method, with about 400 different types, including psychoanalysis, behavioural, cognitive, and humanistic-existential systems.

The scope of psychotherapy involves goals like reinforcing the client’s resolve for betterment, lessening emotional pressure, unfolding the potential for positive growth, modifying habits, changing thinking patterns, increasing self-awareness, and improving interpersonal relations. All approaches are corrective and helping in nature, and can be directive or non-directive.

All psychotherapies systematically apply principles underlying different theories of therapy. They must be practiced only by persons who have received practical training under expert supervision, as an untrained person may cause harm. The important components include clinical formulation, the statement of the client’s problem and treatment in a particular therapy's framework.

The therapeutic relationship is a confidential, interpersonal, and dynamic relationship formed by the interaction between the therapist and the client. This human relationship is central to any psychological therapy and is the vehicle for change. It builds the client's trust so problems may be freely discussed.

The importance of this relationship is highlighted in the therapeutic alliance, where the client has trust in the therapist and the therapist has empathy for the client. Existential therapies emphasise that the therapist provides a warm, empathic relationship where the client feels secure, which is crucial for therapy.