APPROACHEs tO THERAPY

Insight-oriented psychotherapy explores the ways in which past experiences and the emotional expectations developed during our childhood contribute to current difficulties in our functioning. This therapy draws upon the material that surfaces in the relationship developed between therapist and client to bring to life certain core conflicts or early injuries, some of which might reside outside a person’s consciousness. In essence, this type of therapy is helping the client to better know their own mind. Psychodynamic therapy can be of particular value when the presenting issue pertains to relationships. Insight-Oriented Therapy tends to be of a longer duration than other types of therapy.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is an umbrella term for a category of practical, shorter-term forms of psychotherapy. CBT focuses on the here-and-now problems that come up in day-to-day life. CBT helps people to examine how they perceive and think about their experiences, and how these perceptions and thoughts affect the way they behave and feel. It is a problem-focused, goal-oriented approach that teaches skills, provides tools, and often requires work to be done at home between sessions.

Emotion-Focused Therapy is based on the premise that human emotions are connected to human needs, and therefore emotions are the key to helping people change problematic emotional states and interpersonal relationships. The overarching goal of EFT is to help the client develop an increased awareness of their emotional experience, an improved ability to tolerate and regulate emotions, and be better able to transform unhelpful emotions.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is an approach to therapy that addresses the here-and-now, concentrating on present-day solutions, with little time spent on discussing the problems that have brought the person to therapy. It typically begins with identifying and clarifying goals and then working in collaboration with the client to find solutions that can improve their quality of life. The method is rooted in the belief that people develop default patterns based on experiences, and these patterns dictate how they cope. By examining times when the patient’s problems were not present (for example, exceptions to the rule, or times when the problem was not an issue), the therapist and client can map out a way forward. As the name suggests, SFBT tends to be briefer in duration than other approaches might be.

Communication Retraining focuses on helping people put their thoughts and feelings into words in a way that maximizes the probability that they will be heard and understood. It also teaches them to really listen in conversation and convey to the speaker that they have heard them. While these may seem like basic skills, they tend to fail us when we need them most: in times of conflict. This makes Communication Retraining a requisite part of couple therapy. The basics of Communication Retraining can be relayed to a couple in one or two sessions; however, the work of practising this is often taking place in the background on an ongoing basis throughout the course of couple therapy.

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is a specific type of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) that helps people learn how to challenge and modify unhelpful beliefs related to trauma. As with most types of CBT, CPT has a homework component that clients complete on their own between sessions. The goal of CPT is to help people process their traumatic experience rather than avoid it, and create a new understanding and conceptualization of the traumatic event, thereby reducing its ongoing negative effects on their current life.

Relaxation Training equips people with the ability to change their state from one of tension and constriction (fear, anger, hypervigilance) to one of relaxation and openness (safety, equanimity, groundedness). This ability is invaluable in helping people cope with anxiety, anger, depression, insomnia, chronic pain, trauma, and relational conflict. Skills are taught and practised in session as well as at home.

MI is an approach to therapy that is both directive and goal-oriented, and tends to be shorter term. MI is used to help people explore their ambivalence about adopting a new behavioural pattern, as well as their reasons for wanting to change. This approach is designed specifically to help people get in touch with their own intrinsic desire to do things differently. It can be very useful when a person feels stuck in an old behavioural pattern and cannot seem to get past the inertia associated with change.

Mindfulness refers to the practice of being present; that is, being aware of one’s physical, emotional, and mental state in the present moment, without judgement. It is the process of bringing one’s attention to all that can be sensed in the here-and-now, and committing to noticing the now as opposed to thinking about the past, present, or future. It has been shown to be a very effective part of treatment for chronic pain, insomnia, depression and anxiety, and stress management.

ACT is an approach to therapy that relies heavily on mindfulness. ACT helps people learn to accept the full range of their inner world (thoughts, emotions, sensations, needs), and to use mindfulness skills to be flexible and not get caught up in their experience. It helps people to get clarity about their own values and desired actions, and to commit to moving their life in this direction.