Therapies Available - Therapy Types

Counselling – Is the most basic of the talking therapies. It tends to deal with current issues and works at a surface level to provide you with someone to talk things through with. It is useful in cases such as bereavement, difficult life decisions, and depression. A counsellor will guide you to making your own decisions, providing you with helpful advice along the way.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) – The goal of CBT is to help people to change their thought patterns or behaviour, to re-educate their minds away from destructive or difficult thoughts and actions. CBT focuses on your current condition and does not delve into the past to find the causes. CBT therapists take a step-by-step approach to changing the way you think, setting goals to expose you slowly to the subject that has created your need for therapy. It is widely used to counter phobias, anxiety and panic attacks, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder amongst others. It is common to have a fixed number of sessions of somewhere between 10 and 15, after which you would hope to see some improvement.

Psychotherapy and psychoanalysis – This therapy aims to help you understand yourself better. Through analysing past events, you will be able to appreciate why you think or react in certain ways and this will provide the foundation to a management structure or cure for your condition. Psychotherapy may go on for a year or more and be done individually or in group sessions at the discretion of the therapist.

Psychiatry – A psychiatrist is a medical professional. Trained to be doctors, these therapy specialists are not only there to listen, but are also able to prescribe medication where necessary for conditions where the symptoms are causing the sufferer too much discomfort.

Family or couples therapy – The goal is to provide a safe and secure environment in which the therapist can guide discussions to improve relationships, whether with partners or other family members. Some families and couples, for numerous reasons, can come to a point in their lives where there is so much that has been left unsaid that it becomes difficult to open up. As a result, the relationship suffers and, without help, it may well fall apart. Sometimes all that is needed to put you back on the path to a closer relationship and re-build bridges is to release the tension.

Motivational counselling – This therapy does not attempt to discuss your current or historic symptoms or condition; it relies wholly on motivating you to a brighter future whether it is in your work, creative or social life.

Art and drama therapy – If you have a condition where the symptoms include lots of pent-up emotions or you have difficulty expressing yourself to others, creative activities are a good way of defusing your tension and releasing your inner pain. 

Group therapy – There are times when therapy taken in a group can be more useful for a person than a one-on-one with a therapist. The strength you can gain from simply knowing that there are others out there with a similar condition and feelings to you can be phenomenal. Members of the group can draw from the experiences of others and build their own confidence, to open up and allow their peers and the therapist to help guide them to a happier way of life. Group therapy is useful for many conditions, including obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders, and any conditions that affect children.

Specialist clinics – Many of the most common disorders have specialist clinics for helping with the recovery process if you are finding it difficult to manage your rehabilitation yourself.