Therapy Styles used by our Psychologists
Our psychologists are trained in various treatment styles including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Schema Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). Not each of our psychologists uses every modality, please refer to page 4 of the pdf here to find out which therapist uses which modality.
What is Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)?
ACT is a type of therapy that helps to teach people to accept what is out of their personal control, and commit to taking action that improves and enriches their lives. The aim of ACT is to create a rich and meaningful life by teaching people skills to deal with painful thoughts and feelings, and helping individuals to clarify what is truly important and meaningful.
What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?
CBT is a type of therapy that focuses on the ways that an individual’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviours are connected and affect one another. In CBT, the therapist teaches the client different ways of changing their thoughts and behaviours, so as to reduce symptoms and create a better life. Over the years, psychologists have created specialised forms of CBT for various conditions including eating disorders (CBT-E) and insomnia (CBT-I).
What is Schema Therapy?
Schema Therapy is a moderate term therapy (often ~20 sessions) that was developed to help those with persistent mental health problems such as chronic depression, treatment resistant anxiety and personality disorders. Schema Therapy integrates elements of a range of therapies to help clients heal their problematic schemas. A problematic schema, or more technically, an Early Maladaptive Schema is a long standing, deeply held belief about oneself and the world that is self-defeating and results in the client repeating the same unhelpful patterns in their life. The main types of clinical interventions used in Schema Therapy are: Interpersonal, Cognitive, Emotion Focused and Behavioural.
What is Motivational Interviewing?
Motivational interviewing is a person-centred treatment that involves enhancing a client's motivation to change a problematic behaviour. The main idea of motivational interviewing is to purposefully create a conversation around change, without attempting to convince the client of the need to change or instructing them about how to change. Motivational Interviewing is commonly used with people who have substance use problems, or who are managing a chronic illness such as diabetes or heart disease.
What is EMDR?
EMDR is a treatment that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories. EMDR therapy facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories and other adverse life experience to bring these to an adaptive resolution. After successful treatment with EMDR therapy, affective distress is relieved, negative beliefs are reformulated, and physiological arousal is reduced. There is an excellent video found here that explains how EMDR works.