The diagnostic period aims to form a comprehensive assessment, in order to formulate a therapeutic proposal. It includes:

First Meeting: lasts one hour and during its duration an initial assessment of the problem is formed while, at the same time, the interested party is informed about the services provided.

Psychiatric Assessment

Psychological Assessment: administration of psychological tests, with the aim of assessing the personality as a whole, through structured questionnaires (MMRI, Eysenck, CRI) and projective techniques (Rorschach, TAT, CAT, Rotter), as well as its individual functions (e.g. intelligence: W.A.I.S., Raven’s PM), etc. Vocational Guidance tests are also administered to adolescents and young adults.

Family Assessment: meeting with the immediate family environment of the person concerned.

Dyadic and group psychotherapy is a treatment of choice, and is not simply supportive of any therapeutic scheme.

Dyadic Psychotherapy: It is usually the first stage of treatment, after the assessment period. Each session lasts 50 minutes, is dynamically oriented and its frequency is weekly or fortnightly.

Group Psychotherapy:

Group Analysis: these are slow open groups that operate based on the principles of Group Analysis. The frequency varies (from once a week to once every two weeks) and the duration of each session is one and a half hours.

Psychodrama: these are groups that operate by combining the group process with psychodramatic techniques. Their object is the enactment of situations, life events or even imaginary themes in order to facilitate both the assumption and the abandonment of various roles.

Sociotherapy: a large number of Sociotherapeutic groups, with various activities, operate within the framework of the three Psychotherapeutic Communities.

The Psychotherapeutic Communities (Daily, Fortnight and Summer) constitute an original model of a “democratic type” Therapeutic Community, covering the entire spectrum of psychodynamic and sociodynamic activities. They are adapted to Greek particularities and requirements and have aroused international interest.

The Psychotherapeutic Model of TC was more suited to the needs and goals set for the OPC since its foundation. However, various innovations were implemented right from the beginning, always guided by Greek particularities and the needs of daily clinical practice. The Group-Analytic Model of Therapeutic Community was gradually formed. The influence of Group Analysis and Psychodrama was decisive. In addition, and most importantly, it adopts the principles and characteristics of the Greek traditional communal way of life, which contribute to the formation of the individual and his or her emergence as a “person”, in contrast to the dipole of individualism – collectivism. It thus becomes an “anthropomorphic” therapeutic framework, which favors the cultivation of personal otherness and the emergence and consolidation of the individual as a person. A key feature of this scheme is the use of representative democracy processes, which aim to cultivate the patient’s potential for participation in the functioning of the institution and minimize the passive role.

Why Therapeutic Community:

Flexible and effective approach, combined with other therapies.

Variety of group activities, psychotherapeutic and sociotherapeutic.

Active involvement and mobilization.

Utilization of the healthy functions of the participants with the aim of achieving personal changes.

Indications – Who is referred:

Those who present with any type of mental disorder (anxiety, depression, psychosis, personality disorders). Mainly those that are considered serious, with obvious symptoms, such as isolation, withdrawal, lack of contact with reality, low functioning and do not respond positively to monotherapy (pharmaceutical treatment, dual psychotherapy of any approach).

Who refers:

Psychiatrists, Psychologists and more generally Psychotherapists who assess that their patient needs an additional therapeutic / supportive framework. Systematic cooperation and information of the referrer is necessary. It goes without saying that the patient can also come on his own initiative.

Flexible Program

Participation is adapted to daily activities and needs. Choice between various group activities, which utilize art (music, painting, theater, Psychodrama, etc.), movement (dance, body expression), as well as speech, on a weekly or fortnightly basis. Choice of participation hours, as the Communities operate throughout the day.

Participation Process

Telephone contact of the interested party for the first meeting.

Meeting with the Community Therapist. The appropriate, individualized program of participation in activities with a weekly or fortnightly frequency is jointly decided.

Systematic communication of the Community Therapist with the referring therapist.

Participation of the interested party in community group activities for as long as necessary, with the necessary modifications over time.

Cost

It is known that Group Psychotherapy is not only effective but also the most economically advantageous. The cost of treatment in the Psychotherapeutic Communities of the OPC is particularly low and is formed depending on the number of groups.

Daily Psychotherapeutic Community

Coordinator: Katerina Toutouzi

Co-coordinator: Anna Kalogera

The program of the Daily Psychotherapeutic Community includes a large number of groups (Sociotherapeutic and Psychotherapeutic). The Community operates throughout the working days of the week, except for holidays and vacations (two weeks at Christmas and Easter and six weeks in the summer). The hours of attendance are adjusted according to the needs and capabilities of each interested party.

Fortnight Psychotherapeutic Community

Coordinator: Stamatis Vlachos

Co-coordinator: Christina Kampouri

It proposes an original model of Community Therapy, which consists of Sociotherapeutic and Psychotherapeutic Groups. It operates every fortnight, and the patients attend two, three or more therapeutic activities. It is aimed at those who, either due to therapeutic assessment or due to special circumstances (distance, shift work hours, etc.), do not need or do not have the opportunity to participate in the weekly therapeutic activities.

Summer Therapeutic Community

Operates during the summer holidays and lasts three weeks. It concerns those who need to continue their therapy during this period.

Supportive therapies include a wide range of services, which are carried out either individually or in groups, and with a frequency that suits the needs of the interested parties.

Counseling Meetings: these are a limited number of meetings, with the aim of addressing a specific problem, which concerns either the interested party himself/herself or a member of his/her family, etc.

Follow-up: meetings with former patients who, while having completed a psychotherapeutic process, still need encouraging or pharmaceutical support from time to time.

Family Meetings: in parallel with the treatment of the person concerned, meetings are held with the family, either for informational purposes or to redefine the therapeutic goals.

Pharmacotherapy: systematic monitoring and control of the patient’s pharmaceutical treatment.

On-call: outside the working days and operating hours of the O.P.C., there are organized on-call services to address the emergency needs of the Center’s patients.

We consider in-person, face to face psychotherapy as the treatment of choice with significant advantages.

However, in special cases, online sessions are held when access to our space is very difficult or impossible. They usually concern people who either live in remote areas (provinces or abroad) or face mobility problems that do not allow them to move. They are held via a video conferencing platform (e.g. Zoom, Viber, WhatsApp).

Family and Couple Therapy follows a selective approach, both theoretical and practical, influenced to a large extent by Group Analytic theory. It is carried out with two Family Therapists and organizationally belongs to the Department of Family and Child Therapy.

Summer therapeutic activities

Summer therapeutic activities are carried out during the summer. The Center remains open continuously, with the exception of one week, around August 15th. From mid-July to the end of August, certain necessary modifications are made to the activities that operate throughout the year. The activities in which interested parties can participate are:

• First Meeting and Diagnostic Period (Psychiatric Assessment, Psychological Assessment), both for adults and for parents, children and adolescents.
• Counseling Meetings (individual, family, couple).
• Psychiatric monitoring.
• Dyadic Psychotherapy.
• Summer Therapeutic Community: participation in a variety of groups, with activities and/or discussion, with characteristics of brief psychotherapy. Each member, in consultation with the therapist, chooses the program that suits his or her needs and follows it for a specific period of time (three weeks).

The Caregiver Group is a supportive therapeutic group aimed at caregivers of people suffering from chronic physical illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, stroke, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, quadriplegia, etc. Illnesses that make everyday life difficult as they deprive the sufferers of their full functionality, with the necessary consequence of care from someone else. Caregivers (children, spouse, relatives, etc.) are faced with both practical issues, the social and psychological burden of the disease that is developing, as well as the inevitable loss of their loved one. At the same time, caring for a person with a chronic illness greatly affects the caregiver and brings about significant consequences and changes in the functioning and dynamics of the family.

Group approaches offer effective therapeutic interventions, since they base their functioning on specific therapeutic factors. Caregivers often lack training for the role assigned to them and need self-care tools to prevent burnout.

The goal of the caregiver support group is to provide emotional support, manage distressing emotions and anxiety, and provide specialized therapeutic interventions tailored to the needs of the patient’s family, with the aim of maintaining the quality of life of both the patient and the caregiver, as well as the functioning of the entire family.Conductor: Bessy Karagianni Co-conductor: Christos Kanana

Frequency of meetings: Fortnightly