Accepting your emotional reality and holding an awareness of those feelings helps us to be conscious of how we are currently being influenced … understanding this influence opens up the possibility to use reflection to guide your actions towards your best interests and towards the most ideal interaction patterns.
Category Archives: Types of Psychotherapy
The thoughts, emotions, and behaviors triangle
The Diagram below can be used to understand the interconnectedness of thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Additionally the diagram gives an easy to understand explanation of the many different means of offering a psychotherapy intervention. I use this Diagram to offer a visual depiction of all the different options which are available to help the client in achieving a desired change. I use this diagram to unify all theories… personally I am an eclectic therapist… I believe in all the various interventions and I would propose that perhaps being open to offering any of a diverse array of interventions is a sure way of increasing your ability to assist a diverse array of people (multi-cultural competence).
What is a systemic approach in psychotherapy? Family systems theory intervention
The major difference between Family therapy and individual therapy is something called systems theory… therapist using such an approach are said to look at problems and solution systemically. In viewing a problem systemically a therapist will look at all the factors which bear some relation to the reported symptoms… ‘Factors’ could be family members, friends, culture, communication dynamics, the education system, the natural environment etc.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy simplified
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is based on the idea that emotions affect behaviors and thoughts, thoughts affect emotions and behaviors, and behaviors affect emotions and thoughts. To resolve a problem, CBT therapists generally try and promote a change in behavior and thinking patterns with the goals of increasing positive emotions.
Play therapy explained | How to use play therapy | Attuning to your child | how and why it works
Quick Summary: Play therapy is an effective and developmentally accommodating way for a child to communicate emotional or otherwise ‘complex’ information to an adult. A child will often tell you about what they are currently feeling or thinking about with their toys or drawing etc… If an adult can pay attention to the story line or scenario that the child is enacting with their toys (puppets, action figures, dolls, cars etc) the adult can gain an understanding of something that the child is unable to communicate with verbal language (be careful not to over analyze; often children are simply re-enacting something they saw on a TV show etc.) When a child feels as though an adult can understand them they feel secure and validated in who they are… they also feel secure that the adult can meet their basic needs and their attachment needs. The security which arises from empathy and understanding promotes healthy relational, emotional, cognitive and physical growth for humans of all ages.
Existentialism in Psychotherapy
Existentialism is used in Psychotherapy to allow clients to explore their freedom in creating their own meaning. When a client finds his/her freedom to create meaning they greatly reduce their anxiety. The new meaning that a client creates can greatly reduce their suffering and can aid in a person’s recovery from a difficult lived experience.
The Evolution of CBT = Mindfulness – moving from changing projections to eliminating projections
I am suggesting that CBT will evolve into mindfulness as mindfulness reduces the unwanted affects of both positive and negative projections where as CBT is designed to reduce the unwanted affects of negative projections alone.
Narrative therapy summary
Quick summary: My intention is to tell you what techniques can be used in narrative therapy, and why you would use them.
What does LPC, LSW, LMFT, PsyD, PHD, LCSW, MD, MS, MA stand for?
LPC = Licensed Professional Counselor, LMFT = Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, LSW = Licensed Social Worker, LCSW = Licensed Clinical Social worker, PHD = Doctor of Philosophy, Psy D = Doctor of Psychology, MD = Doctor of Medicine, MA = Master of Arts, MS = Master of Science
Structural family therapy summary
Quick Summary: I am providing a summary of Structural Family therapy. I will define all relevant terms and offer an explanation as to what structural therapy might typically look like.
Solution Focused Therapy simplified
Quick summary: Solution focused in based on the idea that if you get people to start solving and to stop over analyzing the problem they will be more likely to reach a resolution in the present and they will be more likely to seek out solutions or to put the majority of there perceptual energy towards solutions in the future. In short if you focus on problems – you live within problems… if you focus on solutions – you live within solutions. I have outlined techniques to help people to use this method.
A subtle difference between Narrative and Cognitive psychotherapy
Quick Summary: Narrative and Cognitive therapy both help people to think about their world a bit differently. Cognitive therapy helps people to look at and to change disruptive beliefs and Narrative therapy helps people to put more attention on the positive storylines that make up their reality. Both hold that positive thoughts and a positive […]
'narrative means to theraputic ends' – book summary and review
Quick summary: Below is a book review for ‘Narrative means to therapeutic ends’ written by Michael White and David Epston. I use this opportunity to highlight the major themes of Narrative therapy in general. This is a great book!
Rogerian (or Person Centered) therapy summary
Rogers maintains that if a therapist offers a setting in which he/she is genuine, empathetic and can offer unconditional positive regard to the client, then the client will naturally grow into an effective, affectionate, empathetic, accepting, self-aware, secure and happy person.