When you are looking to seek therapy, you may get confused after seeing so many terms and types of therapy available in today’s time. And it may interfere with your decision to take the right type of therapy for the specific problem that you are experiencing in your life. But from now on, you won’t get confused because you are going to get clarity on various types of therapy that are available. It is also fine if you are not aware of what you are looking for but you should know about every type of therapy so that it may help you in exploring all the options and thus making a right decision for yourself.
Various Types of Therapy
Now, here is an overview of the types of therapy. Various therapists get trained in various types of therapy and make it their specialization. So, if you want to seek a specific type of therapy you should look for a therapist who is a professional and trained in that specific field. It will make sure that they are aware of what they have to do and to use which technique in the therapy session. Sometimes, therapists even mix techniques of different therapies in the session.
1. Psychoanalytic Therapy
It is based upon the works of Freud on unconscious mind. The aim of Psychoanalytic Therapy is to increase adaptive functioning that involves the reduction of symptoms and the resolution of conflicts. It makes the unconscious conscious and also strengthens the ego so that behaviour is more logical and less on instinctual cravings. This is not limited to discussing and solving problems. It involves discussing childhood experiences that shape our personality, perspectives and basically everything in our life. Dream Analysis and Slip of the tongue are also used in psychoanalytic therapy.
To make the clients freely express their difficult thoughts, psychoanalysts create an atmosphere in which face-to-face sessions happen and often the client has to lie down on a couch while the therapist remains out of view (usually seated behind the client’s head). Therapists make sure that the clients gain insight by reliving the unresolved past experiences that come into focus during sessions. The development of transference is encouraged to help clients deal with unconscious content.
2. Behaviour Therapy
This therapy is based upon the works of Skinner who gave the theory of Operant Conditioning. Therapists take a behavioural approach to help clients learn appropriate ways of acting, or help them modify or eliminate excessive actions. This therapy is most useful in addressing difficulties associated with anxiety, stress, assertiveness, parenting, and social interaction.
Behaviour therapists conduct a functional assessment or behavioural analysis to identify the conditions by gathering information about situational antecedents (A), the dimensions of the problem behaviour (B), and the consequences (C) of the problem. This is known as the ABC model which suggests that behaviour (B) is influenced by some specific events that precede it, called antecedents (A), and by certain events that follow it, called consequences (C).
Operant Conditioning techniques like Positive and Negative Punishment, Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Extinction, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Systematic Desensitization, Flooding and Vivo Exposure are used in Behaviour Therapy.
3. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
A. Cognitive Therapy
B. Multimodal Therapy
It is based upon the works of Lazarus. For this therapy, therapists behave as educators or trainers and thus provide information, feedback and instruction about modelling behaviour. Therapists identify one specific issue from the concept of BASIC I.D and help the client to develop resources in the sessions. Thus, clients can apply those leanings and resources in their real life every day.
C. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) was given by Marsha Linehan. It is mostly used for people with chronic or severe mental health issues like self-harm, PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder and Addiction issues. It teaches 4 things:
- Interpersonal Effectiveness
- Emotional Regulation
- Distress Tolerance
- Mindfulness
These skills are helpful for the clients to achieve goals in their life. It assists clients to regulate their emotions well, control their behaviour, solve day to day problems and live life to the fullest.
D. Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)
This was given by Albert Ellis. In Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), therapists focus on helping people realize that they can live more rational and productive lives. It assists clients to stop catastrophizing every tiny event in their life and getting upset over it. Clients in REBT express their negative feelings and then the therapist helps them in avoiding having more of an emotional response to an event than it is needed.
4. Gestalt Therapy
5. Person-Centred Therapy
In Person-Centred Therapy, therapists help the clients to achieve a greater degree of autonomy and integration. The goal should not be just restricted to solving problems but also to grow in that process and solve all problems effectively. The main premise as given by Rogers is to encourage the client towards self-actualization so that they have trust in themselves and a willingness to keep growing in life. Clients come in a state of incongruence and after getting desired support, guidance, empathy and unconditional positive regard, they achieve the state of congruence. They become able to express all kinds of emotions and accept them by incorporating emotions in themselves.
6. Existential Therapy
Victor Frankl saw Existential Therapy as a way to identify ways in which we can live our life authentically and to make choices that fully utilize our capabilities and capacities. Clients are made to understand the subjective world, form opinions and thus to accept personal responsibility. Clients are taught that they have control over their life and thus are fully responsible for everything in their life. Negatives like hopelessness, helplessness and powerlessness are removed from client’s mind and solution-oriented thinking is developed.
7. Interpersonal Therapy
It focuses on discussing, understanding and solving current problems rather than focusing on childhood issues and experiences. Klerman emphasized upon the importance of cultivating communication skills and interpersonal effectiveness for a better social world. It helps in issues like relationship or role conflicts, difficulty maintaining relationships and grief or loss due to someone’s death. This approach is mostly used for mood disorders and it aims to reduce overall stress and improve one’s social functioning.
8. Family and Couples Therapy
It is a very popular pursuit in today’s time. It works with families and couples who have either intimate or close relationship and are facing some issues in maintain that bonding. It addresses the behaviour of the family members and the influence that it has on the whole family in general. Family Therapy was given by Minuchin in 1960s and 70s. Marital Therapy and Couples Therapy are also included in this broad spectrum of family therapy. It deals with issues like divorce or separation, child abuse, domestic violence, parent-child conflict, behaviour problems or financial issues. In this therapy, each family member is given importance and can express their concerns to the therapist in the sessions.
9. Crisis Therapy
It deals with issues that need immediate attention like attempted suicide, abuse or drug overdose. It stops the incident from getting worse for the victim emotionally and mentally. Crisis Therapists provide emotional support and assistance to the victim during the most emotional time that is after the event has occurred. Therapist has to make sure that the victim is safe and then provide a comforting and trustful environment so that support can be given. Therapist also helps the client to develop coping skills overtime in the sessions that may be helpful for forthcoming situations in life.
10. Art Therapy
Art therapy combines visual arts with counselling, psychotherapy and mental health. In this, client is given the opportunity to express their disturbing negative thoughts and emotions by drawing a picture on a piece of paper expressing all the negativity residing inside them. This gives them a chance to indirectly express their repressed motives, fears and emotions instead of saying them directly by putting them into words. It is usually used to treat anxiety, depression, trauma, interpersonal issues and many other mental health problems. It is sometimes combined with music therapy, drama therapy and dance therapy to show excellent results in the treatment.
Seek Professional Help at Medavas
You are in the right place if you believe that you require assistance from a counsellor to improve your mental health. The counsellor who is skilled in and offers a variety of therapies will provide you with the assistance you need. By doing this, you can acquire skills, improve your outlook on life, and design a life where you can control your emotions on your own. At Medavas, which offers the greatest online counselling services, you can receive a variety of sorts of therapy. Therapists receive training in a variety of therapies, including CBT, REBT, and others. You can schedule an appointment with the therapist of your choosing at a time and in a manner that suits you.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Types of Therapy
How is dream interpretation done in Psychoanalytic Therapy?
Dreams are a way towards revealing the unconscious material. Our defences get lowered during sleep and through dreams all the unconscious needs, desires and thoughts can be discovered easily. Many of them are expressed in symbolic form so interpretation is done by the therapist.
Dreams consist of two types of content: latent content and manifest content. Latent content involves hidden and unconscious motives and fears. As they are painful, the unconscious sexual and aggressive impulses that consist of latent content are transformed into the more acceptable manifest content, which is the dream as it appears to the dreamer. Then, dream work is done in which the latent content is transformed into the less threatening manifest content is called dream work.
What is the Cognitive Distortion called Selective Abstraction?
Selective Abstraction means forming a conclusion based on information that has details missing. It is a cognitive bias that involves understanding something out of context and not believing everything else as it is ignored. For example: “I didn’t play good today, I suck at Badminton.” People dwell on one negative detail about the whole event and ignore everything else that is also important and should be taken into consideration.
Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy is used for which mental health disorders?
It majorly focuses on overcoming irrational beliefs and thoughts that negatively influence mental health and quality of life. Though, according to researches, issues like negative feelings like sadness and anger, anxiety, stress, depression, behaviour problems, overthinking, OCD and Personality Disorders have been proven to be treated effectively with the help of techniques of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy.