How to Work Out Which Type of Talk Therapy is Right For You

There are different types of talking therapy, but chances are you’re more familiar with counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or psychotherapy. Some types of talking treatments are more suitable than others for particular people and situations, and so it’s important to explore your options before you opt for a less-effective therapy. It may be helpful to discuss your options with your GP, but here’s the basic run-down of each talking treatment and how they might be beneficial for you.

 

1. Counselling: As the best-known talking therapy, counselling is the most readily available at your GP surgery, with the NHS usually offering six to 12 hour-long sessions. In confidence, you talk to your counsellor about your situation and yourself, and he or she will support you and give you practical advice. This is a good complimentary wellness therapy for people who are otherwise healthy, but need help with current crises like anger, relationship problems, bereavement, redundancy, infertility and the onset of a serious illness.

 

2. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): In CBT, you change your mindset so that you can cope with difficult situations in a healthier way. With your therapist, you set goals and carry out tasks between sessions, over a period of six to 15 weeks. Again, this is more to do with your present than your past, which is why CBT can help you deal with depression, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and some eating disorders, especially bulimia.

 

3. Psychotherapy: This is different to counselling and CBT in that psychotherapy involves talking more about your past to help you overcome problems you’re having in the present. There are many types of psychotherapy, but the main aim in all variations is to help you to understand yourself, your life and your relationships. As psychotherapy tends to last longer than CBT and counselling, it can be especially useful if you have long-term or recurring problems of which you don’t know the cause.

 

4. Family therapy: A therapist or a pair of therapists will meet with you all as a family, in order to understand your problems and enable you to communicate better with one another. This can be useful when one member of the family has a serious problem that’s affecting the rest of the group, such as child and adolescent behavioural problems, mental health conditions, illness and disability, domestic violence, drug and alcohol addiction, and separation, divorce and step-family issues.

 

5. Couples therapy: When your relationship wellness is at risk, be it because of a big event (like an affair) or lots of little things, couples therapy can help you work through it. You and your partner speak to a counsellor, who can help you find where you’ve gone wrong, and work on ways to change your relationship for the better. As a result of couples therapy, many people learn more about their partner’s needs and how to communicate better.

 

6. Group therapy: For group therapy, you meet up with around 11 other people and a therapist, in order to share a common problem and get support and advice from people who know exactly what you’re going through. Not only does this mean that you’ll get better advice than you would if you just talked to a friend or someone who hasn’t gone through the same things, but just knowing you’re not alone in your experiences is, in itself, beneficial to your wellbeing. Plus, you may just find that you’re a social person, and prefer being in a group to individual therapy.

Categories: behavioural therapy, cognitive behavioural, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Counselling, couples therapy, Group Therapy, nbsp, psychotherapy, talking therapy, therapy, therapy cbt

Quick, Active, Effective: The Benefits of CBT

When your wellness is affected by depression, lying on a sofa and going over every dream or childhood trauma you’ve ever had doesn’t appeal – especially if it’s going to be months or even years before you see any improvement to your wellbeing. Many people with depression take antidepressants, but coming off them can be scary as you don’t know if you’ll end up right back at square one. Luckily, there’s a complementary wellness therapy which may work for you.

 

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) includes a number of related talk therapy techniques which can offer a light at the end of the depression tunnel. According to several studies, the treatment is relatively fast and effective, but the effects of the treatment also have excellent longevity. CBT is based on the concept that, if you’re like many sufferers, your depression is cause by the negative way of thinking you have about the world and yourself, rather than any life circumstances or genetic reasons.

 

Therefore, the goal of CBT is simple; to teach you how to break out of that damaging thinking pattern. CBT does this by showing you how to recognise negative thoughts, test their validity, and replace them with more positive or realistic thoughts. According to the evidence, the benefits of the treatment often occur quickly, even being noticeable after one or two sessions. This is because you realise early on that your own negative thinking is the main culprit behind your depression.

 

If you’re thinking that CBT still sounds a lot like traditional talking therapy, here are three reasons why you’re wrong:

 

1. Time – Traditional talk therapy, or psychoanalysis, can last for years. CBT, on the other hands, lasts for an average of 16 sessions. In fact, your doctor will probably determine how long the therapy will take in advance, right at the beginning of the treatment.

 

2. Set Up – Instead of an hour in which you babble on about whatever memory or topic you like, CBT often involves a plan for each session. This includes a list of the specific techniques and goals you have to cover in that session.

 

3. Take Away – CBT gives you homework more than other forms of therapy, as it requires you to actively identify the triggers of your negative thinking and to “practice” alternative responses. You may be required to keep a thought journal, or even actively schedule a challenging situation for yourself.

Categories: Agenda, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), nbsp, negative thinking, Quick, talk therapy, therapy, Thinking

Can Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Reduce Your Work Stress?

Being stressed at work is hardly a unique problem, as more than eight in 10 US workers say that their jobs are stressing them out. By defining corporate wellness in terms success, our Western culture of burnout is taking its toll on your wellbeing, creativity, productivity and corporate bottom lines. So how can you get through each workday with less stress?

 

According to Dr. Frank Ghinassi, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, reframing your perspective plays a significant role in reducing tension and anxiety. Ghinassi says, ‘Our emotions start with our interpretation of events. It’s not so much the facts that drive what we feel, it’s what we think about. It’s the cognitive interpretations we make about the events of our lives that ends up driving how we feel.’ This is where Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – an effective type of treatment for depression and anxiety disorders – can help. The National Institute of Mental Health notes that CBT is unlike other forms of therapy as its primary focus is on your thoughts and beliefs, rather than your actions.

 

One CBT-inspired strategy you can try is to prioritise your tasks, and let go of those that are less important. Ghinassi explains, ‘For many of us at work, we buy into the illusion that we are capable of doing all of the things that are asked of us in exactly the time frame we’re being asked. The first step is to reassess, cognitively, what our capacity is.’ Look at your “to do” list and rate how critical each task is. Then, focus your attention on the most important ones and leave the few at the bottom of the list for later – if you have time.

 

If you need help recognising and challenging your negative thought patterns, spend two minutes doing the following task:

 

1. Draw a table with three columns.

2. In the first column, write down the stressful event that occurred.

3. In the second column, jot down your feelings about the event in single words, and rate them on a scale of one to 100, with 100 being completely overwhelming.

4. In the third column, write every thought that’s going through your head, and stop when the two minutes are up.

5. Fold the paper in half, and don’t look at it again until 24 hours have passed.

6. Look back at what you wrote once you have some distance from the situation.

 

Ghinassi says, ‘I guarantee you that what you’re going to see are a lot of distorted, inaccurate, black-and-white, catastrophic thoughts. We ask you to underline those and challenge them.’

Categories: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Focus Priorities, negative thoughts