Brief Descriptions of Psychotherapy and Counselling Methods -Part 1

Brief Descriptions of Psychotherapy and Counselling Methods -part 1

Copyright (c) 2008 Mark Weiss

This is part one of a series of articles on the different models of psychotherapy and counseling. Other models will be discussed in part two and three and maybe even part four.

Adlerian psychotherapy counseling | Behavioral Analysis psychotherapy counseling | Body Centered psychotherapy counseling | Cognitive Behavioral or CBT psychotherapy counseling | DBT or Dialectical Behavioral psychotherapy counseling | Emotion Focused psychotherapy counseling | Family Systems psychotherapy counseling

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) psychotherapy counseling

ACT uses an educational approach to teach client’s to “just notice”, accept, and embrace their life experiences. ACT introduces the client to strategies of ‘mindfulness’, ‘acceptance’, ‘commitment’ and ‘behavior change’ to enhance psychological flexibility.

Adlerian Therapy psychotherapy counseling

Alfred Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement along with Freud and others. He was the first major psychotherapist to distance himself from psychoanalysis and form an independent school of psychotherapy and personality theory. The goal of Adlerian Therapy is to challenge the clients’ premises and to encourage goals that are socially useful and help them to feel equal.

Behavioural Analysis psychotherapy counseling

The term ‘behavior analysis’ coined by B. F. Skinner, focuses on the science of behavior as a subject in its own right while relegating the concept of mind to philosophy.

Body-Centered Therapy

Body Centered Therapy Also known as mind-body or somatic therapy, combines the strengths of talk therapy with bodywork to help people become more aware of their bodily sensations as well as their emotions, images and behavior.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) psychotherapy counseling

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the important role of thoughts and perception in shaping feelings and behaviors. CBT uses a problem-solving approach that teaches people skills to change their thinking and manage their reactions to stressful people and situations.

DBT or Dialectical Behavioral psychotherapy counseling

Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is a psychosocial treatment developed by Marsha M. Linehan as a way of treating individuals with borderline personality disorder. In the 1990’s Linehan advocated that psychosocial treatment of those with Borderline Personality Disorder was as important in controlling the condition as treatment with pharmaceutical drugs.

Emotion Focused Therapy psychotherapy counseling

EFT is a short-term approach to couples therapy formulated by Drs. Sue Johnson and Les Greenberg in the 1980’s. Relationship distress is a very common reason for seeking therapy and is strongly associated with depression, anxiety disorders and addictions as well as generally undermining family health.

Family Systems psychotherapy counseling

Family Systems therapy is a form of psychotherapy that considers a family as an organism or system with its own internal rules, patterns of functioning, and tendency to resist change. The treatment involves all the members of a nuclear or extended family and may be conducted by a pair or team of therapists of both genders for a short-term treatment.