What Are The Most Commonly Used Types Of Psychotherapy?

What Is Psychotherapy Used For?

Psychotherapy, commonly known as therapy, is a type of treatment for people who are going through emotional difficulties and experiencing mental health conditions. Getting help can alleviate the burden of symptoms and identify their origins so that a person can experience improved overall well-being.

Therapy involves a mental health professional working with you through troubling psychological issues. This process is also referred to as talk therapy. Psychotherapy is a way of helping people who have emotional and behavioral problems, particularly diagnosable mental health conditions.

It can only be conducted by a professional trained in its administration. It is used to help people identify and understand the situations in their lives to assist in a healing process that results in improved functioning and helps overall well-being. It helps people by decreasing or eliminating psychologically distressing thoughts and behaviors that interfere with their lives.

What Are the Most Common Types of Psychotherapy?

There are many types of therapy, and therapists often use different kinds of psychotherapy within a single session.

The type of therapy clients receive depends upon their particular mental health diagnoses and their severity. The therapist and client will often choose together which modality of therapy to utilize. Mental health providers frequently combine elements of different types of therapy to best meet their clients’ needs.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most common type of psychotherapy and aims to help individuals develop healthier ways of thinking. To do this, CBT focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviors by challenging and ultimately restructuring them.

During CBT, an individual will work closely with a therapist to set goals, develop healthier coping skills, and apply them to real-life situations. CBT is used to treat a variety of mental health conditions, including:

• Depression
• Anxiety disorders
• PTSD
• Personality disorders
• Substance use disorders
• Panic disorders

Benefits of CBT include:

• Improved emotional regulation
• Enhanced coping skills
• Symptom reduction

Ultimately, CBT aims to help people effectively manage stress and improve their overall quality of life.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a type of therapy that helps clients learn to manage their emotions more effectively. DBT is often used in working with clients with PTSD, borderline personality disorder, and eating disorders.

This type of psychotherapy teaches a person coping skills to change unwanted or disruptive behaviors and promotes personal responsibility to enact change. DBT can take place in either individual or group settings.

DBT therapy has multiple components. Clients receive individual therapy, group skills training, and phone coaching. These help them learn new skills to be applied to future events. Mindfulness training is a component of this. Clients also create a diary that tracks mood, behavior, and skills.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

The foundation of psychoanalysis or psychodynamic therapy is that behavior and mental wellness are rooted in early childhood experiences and that bringing these things into conscious awareness can help people see themselves clearly and work through them. With psychodynamic therapy, people work with their therapists to promote self-awareness and alter long-standing behavioral patterns so that they can have more control of their lives and find ways to improve them.

While engaging in psychodynamic psychotherapy, clients are encouraged to talk about whatever comes to their mind, such as fears, desires, current challenges, and dreams. They will work with the therapist to increase their feelings of self-worth, learn to better utilize abilities and talents, and have healthier and more satisfying relationships.

Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) has been proven to help people working through trauma and other negative life experiences. It assists with the processing of memories that could otherwise not be accessible.

This type of psychotherapy looks at childhood events as opposed to current challenges you are going through. You and your therapist will create a treatment plan based on your history and current situation. EMDR teaches coping skills for stress reduction to decrease the distress caused by traumatic memories. It works by helping people to have positive beliefs instead of harmful ones. EMDR has been shown to assist with PTSD, CPTSD, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, eating disorders, and other mental health conditions. It is often conducted in between three to 12 sessions or more.

When you start EMDR therapy, you will choose a specific traumatic or distressing event. You and your therapist will then explore the residue remaining from the event, specifically the negative beliefs and body feelings related to it. You then focus on a positive belief that indicates the difficult past event has been resolved. While you focus your thoughts on memories of this event, your therapist will enact sounds, side-to-side movements of the eye, and taps.

The therapist repeats these actions until the traumatic event becomes less disturbing. They continue to be repeated until the client is completely calm when imagining the event.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy has foundations in cognitive behavioral therapy. It assists people in examining their worries and fears and helps them decrease symptoms resulting from trauma. This therapy can help if you are scared or anxious about things and have been avoiding them. A safe environment is provided to gently expose you to your fears, disrupting things like avoidance and helping you learn new behaviors so you can move closer to the things to which you were once scared.

Exposure therapy is helpful with phobias and their related behaviors^, as it works by slowly exposing a person to the thing they are afraid of and incorporates relaxation techniques to utilize during difficult situations. After this is repeated, being exposed to the feared thing in a controlled manner reduces distressing feelings of anxiety.

It can also be beneficial for people with PTSD, OCD, social anxiety, and panic disorder.

Interpersonal Therapy

Interpersonal therapy (IPT) is a short-term therapy that helps people understand the challenges that are causing them difficulties with others. It helps with unresolved grief, changes in jobs, relationship conflicts, and challenges relating to others. Benefits of IPT are learning healthy ways to express emotions and improving how a client relates to and communicates with others. It is used frequently in the treatment of depression.

A session of interpersonal therapy will be safe, supportive, and nonjudgmental. You will be given the space to open up about personal issues and be heard by someone who is objective and has been trained in working with people experiencing challenges similar to yours.

Mentalization-Based Therapy

Mentalization-based therapy involves being aware of your mind and the minds of others. It is the process of making sense of oneself and others concerning thoughts and emotions. The focus is on internal dialogue and how it is interpreted.

Mentalization-based therapy was originally developed to treat borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder but can also be utilized in the treatment of depression, substance abuse, and eating disorders. It can be especially helpful for people who had childhoods with abandonment or attachment issues.

In a session of mentalization-based therapy, you will examine and learn to differentiate between your personal emotional state and those of others as well as understand how your mental state influences your behavior. You will learn to think before reacting to your feelings or the feelings you perceive others to be having.

Which Therapy Is Right for Me?

There are various types of psychotherapy. The kind a person receives depends upon their mental health diagnosis and its severity. Together, you and your therapist will decide what therapy modality will be the best fit. Providers frequently incorporate elements of different types of therapy to best meet their clients’ needs.

Finding Your Therapy Fit

Many types of therapy are available, and finding the right therapy helps ensure that your individual needs are met, ultimately enhancing its effectiveness. Reach out to your doctor or a mental health professional to learn more and get started on your healing journey today.