Therapies
DBT- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based psychotherapy that combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Zen Buddhism. Created by Marsha Linehan, it was originally used to treat Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Now it is used to treat many different emotional dysregulation and impulse control disorders and symptoms.
DBT is made up of many skills that help you regulate your emotions, improve your relationships and withstand times of distress without impulsivity. These skills take practice to incorporate into your daily life. They work like a muscle, building up strength with practice over time. DBT teaches you which skills are best used when and how best to apply them.
The ultimate goal of DBT is to build a “life worth living.” It has a few core components that help you do this:
The first is the principle of dialectics. Black and white thinking is common among people with BPD and others. Dialectics is the shades of gray in between. The idea is that two opposing things can both be true. It’s something that learners have to accept.
Another core component is Mindfulness. In fact, it’s the first of four modules in the treatment program. Mindfulness practice helps you live in the moment and stop holding onto painful emotions. It also helps you gain the space from the troubling situation that you need to use other DBT skills.
DBT is evidence-based, meaning that there is research supporting its effectiveness. Data show reduced rates of suicidality, hospitalizations, and self-injury. Research on the efficacy of DBT for various disorders is ongoing.
The core of DBT is that there is a therapeutic alliance, where the professional and client are on the same level with no hierarchy and goals are to agree upon. DBT views clients as an ally who work together for solutions to help the client.
Narrative
Narrative therapy is a style of therapy that helps people become—and embrace being—an expert in their own lives. In narrative therapy, there is an emphasis on the stories that you develop and carry with you through your life.As you experience events and interactions, you give meaning to those experiences and they, in turn, influence how you see yourself and the world. You can carry multiple stories at once, such as those related to your self-esteem, abilities, relationships, and work. Developed in the 1980s by New Zealand-based therapists Michael White and David Epston, narrative therapy seeks to have an empowering effect and offer counseling that is non-blaming and non-pathological in nature. (This means that your narrative therapist won’t just see you as a walking diagnosis but as a complicated and nuanced human being with a story to tell.)
IFS-Internal Family Systems
Developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz in response to clients’ descriptions of various parts within themselves. Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an approach identifies and addresses multiple sub-personalities or families within each person’s mental system. These sub-personalities consist of wounded parts and painful emotions such as anger and shame and parts that try to control and protect the person from the pain of the wounded parts. The sub-personalities are often in conflict with each other and with one’s core Self, a concept that describes the confident, compassionate, whole person that is at the core of every individual. IFS focuses on healing the wounded parts and restoring mental balance and harmony by changing the dynamics that create discord among the sub-personalities and the Self.
IFS Therapy can treat individuals, couples, and families. It can effectively treat a variety of conditions and symptoms. These include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Panic
- Phobias
- Trauma
- Substance use
- Physical health conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis
- General functioning and well-being
EMDR –Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a mental health treatment technique. Developed by the late Dr. Francine Shaprio this method involves moving your eyes a specific way while you process traumatic memories. EMDR’s goal is to help you heal from trauma or other distressing life experiences. Dozens of clinical trials since EMDR’s development show this technique is effective and can help a person faster than many other methods. EMDR therapy doesn’t require talking in detail about a distressing issue. EMDR instead focuses on changing the emotions, thoughts or behaviors that result from a distressing experience (trauma). This allows your brain to resume a natural healing process. While many people use the words “mind” and “brain” when referring to the same thing, they’re actually different. Your brain is an organ of your body. Your mind is the collection of thoughts, memories, beliefs and experiences that make you who you are.
Positive Psychology
Positive psychology is a branch of psychology focused on the character strengths and behaviors that allow individuals to build a life of meaning and purpose—to move beyond surviving to flourishing. Theorists and researchers in the field have sought to identify the elements of a good life. They have also proposed and tested practices for improving life satisfaction and well-being. Positive psychology emphasizes meaning and deep satisfaction, not just on fleeting happiness. Martin Seligman, often regarded as the father of positive psychology, has described multiple visions of what it means to live happily, including the Pleasant Life (Hollywood’s view of happiness), the Good Life (focused on personal strengths and engagement), and the Meaningful Life. Positive psychologists have explored a range of experiences and behaviors involved in different versions of positive living, including specific positive emotions, “flow” states, and sense of meaning or purpose.
Gottman Method
The Gottman Method for Healthy Relationships is a form of couples-based therapy and education that derives from the relationship research of psychologist John Gottman. For more than 40 years, Gottman identified and tested the elements of an enduring relationship. Gottman and his wife, psychologist Julie Schwartz Gottman, created the clinical treatment framework known as the Gottman Method and launched the Gottman Institute, a center for training, research, and education.
One of the major tenets of the Gottman Method is that couples require five times more positive interactions than negative, as negative emotions, like defensiveness and contempt, hurt a relationship more than positive ones heal. As a result, the therpay focuses on developing the skills and understanding necessary for partners to maintain fondness and admiration, turn toward each other to get their needs met, and manage conflict. It also focuses on how couples can react and repair relations when they do hurt each other.
The method can be applied to many relationship problems but may be particularly useful for couples who are:
- Stuck in chronic conflict
- Coping with infidelity.
- Struggling with communication
- In a stagnant relationship or emotionally distanced
- Facing difficulties over specific issues, such as money,parenting or sex.
All Gottman Method therapy is based on a couple’s patterns of interacting, and partners learn and implement relationship-building and problem-solving skills together.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy- KAP
Ketamine therapy is a treatment approach that uses low doses of ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic medication, to manage various mental health conditions, such as treatment-resistant depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ketamine is a widely-used, FDA-approved medicine prescribed off-label for mental health with a long track record of clinical safety. Beyond its original use as an anesthetic and analgesic, ketamine is also prescribed off label for the treatment of depression and anxiety and other mental health challenges. Ketamine targets the underlying causes of mental illness rather than merely addressing the symptoms. Its rapid antidepressant and mood-enhancing properties are complemented by its ability to enhance neuroplasticity and foster new synaptic connections, leading to a more resilient and healthier brain over time. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy is an evidence-based form of psychedelic-assisted therapy. KAP pairs ketamine treatment with ongoing psychotherapy with a licensed mental health professional, giving eligible patients the opportunity to experience more powerful breakthroughs in therapy.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-CBT
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a common type of talk therapy (psychotherapy). You work with a mental health counselor (psychotherapist or therapist) in a structured way, attending a limited number of sessions. CBT helps you become aware of inaccurate or negative thinking so you can view challenging situations more clearly and respond to them in a more effective way.
CBT can be a very helpful tool — either alone or in combination with other therapies — in treating mental health disorders, such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or an eating disorder. But not everyone who benefits from CBT has a mental health condition. CBT can be an effective tool to help anyone learn how to better manage stressful life situations.
CBT is a useful tool to address emotional challenges. For example, it may help you:
- Manage symptoms of mental illness
- Prevent a relapse of mental illness symptoms
- Treat a mental illness when medications aren’t a good option
- Learn techniques for coping with stressful life situations
- Identify ways to manage emotions
- Resolve relationship conflicts and learn better ways to communicate
- Cope with grief or loss
- Overcome emotional trauma related to abuse or violence
- Cope with a medical illness
- Manage chronic physical symptoms
Mental health disorders that may improve with CBT include:
- Depression
- Anxiety disorders
- Phobias
- PTSD
- Sleep disorders
- Eating disorders
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Substance use disorders
- Bipolar disorders
- Schizophrenia
- Sexual disorders
