I’m interested in talking about therapy. How does therapy
work? Is there one form of therapy that is better than another? Currently if
you’re seeking support for mental health there are a huge range of mental
health services available to you. A quick search
on the internet for “mental health support” provides information from the charity
MIND and the NHS.
The NHS website has an area on their website called “Moodzone”
which is aimed at individuals with anxiety or feeling down. The page offers
tips, questionnaires, audiobooks and podcasts for helping the individual start
coping with anxiety and depression. If you’re seeking get therapy the NHS
website has information on how to get in contact with the appropriate people.
The charity MIND
website is a dedicated website to mental health, it has areas on fundraising,
information and finding local services. The information section gives detailed
overviews on therapy and medical treatments. Listing Art Therapies, Cognitive
behaviour therapy (CBT), Dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT), talking
treatments, alternative treatments and a range of medical treatments*.
Similarly the NHS website
lists all the different types of therapy they offer; Counselling, Cognitive
behavioural Therapy, Psychotherapy, Family therapy, Couples therapy, and Group
Therapy.
Counselling
is where a counsellor listens to you, supports you and gives practical advice.
The NHS recommends counselling for people who feel that they are healthy but
need help in a current crisis.
The NHS describes Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as helping you think less negatively. Therapists
discuss setting practical goals with the client. The NHS recommends that CBT is for individuals
with depression and that it is for looking at current issues rather than
looking into your past. Further information on the mechanisms
behind CBT can be found on the charity MIND’s website.
MIND defines Dialectical
behaviour therapy (DBT) as a progression of cognitive behaviour therapy
that has been adapted for people with borderline personality disorder. MIND describes that DBT is saying that negative
behaviours make sense, even though it’s not good in the long run and encourages
change. There are many forms of CBT and DBT in clinical research and I will
cover these all in detail in the future.
The counselling page describes Psychotherapy as talking about
your past to help overcome problems you’re having in the present.
Psychotherapies aim is to help you understand more about yourself, improve your
relationships and get more out of life. There is a dedicated page to
psychotherapy and its different orientations. Further the NHS describes psychotherapy
through the orientations of Psychodynamic (psychoanalytic) psychotherapy,
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), Cognitive analytical therapy (CAT),
interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), Humanistic therapies, and family and marital
(systemic) therapy.
The MIND charity describes Art
Therapy as therapy that allows you to express your emotions and problems
without talking. This can include drawing, dancing, music or drama.
Over the coming months I’m planning on exploring all of
these types of therapy, what makes then unique and what underlying mechanisms
relate all of them. For example therapeutic alliance, does matching the right
therapist to the right client make all the difference?
* Whilst there is a range of medical, biological and natural
treatments for mental health, this blog will not be covering them in detail.
