Download Therapies (Word)

Schema focused therapy or schema therapy aims to meet core emotional needs. This approach is very helpful
for addressing problems which originate from childhood. Schema therapy is about enabling people to
understand life long patterns that feel harmful in order to bring about change. Schema therapy identifies the
repetitions of behavioural and emotional experiences as lifetraps or ‘schemas’ which serve to reinforce beliefs
about ourselves from early life. Some of the schemas that might be addressed in therapy could be patterns
which are self defeating such as being unloveable or that ‘people I love will leave me’ or ‘it is impossible to get
my needs met’ to describe but a few. This therapy aims to look at ways that schema are maintained by the
coping strategies that people use with a view to finding healthier ways of expressing emotional needs and
challenge negative thought patterns. The Schema focused approach combines aspects of cognitive-behavioral,
experiential, interpersonal and psychoanalytic therapies. The assessment process for schema focused therapy
involves an in-depth assessment and open ended treatment which can be adapted according to the individual
needs of the client.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) relies on evidence based practice to generate knowledge in relation to a
wide range of psychological problems that people might experience. The CBT approach encourages a
collaborative relationship between the client and therapist where both are able to speak openly about the
aims of the therapy, the therapeutic relationship and the nature of the problem. The therapist endeavours to
think carefully with the client about the ways in which thoughts, feelings and behaviour are maintaining the
problem and what might need to change in this cycle to alleviate distress. This therapy model focuses
predominantly on the here and now but recognises the influence of past events in shaping the individual’s
problem. Once a shared understanding of the problem has been established between the client and therapist,
this enables the forming of goals and strategies to bring about the desired change, these are regularly
reviewed. Clients often describe this therapy as empowering because it is practical but relies on their self
knowledge and expertise to make sense of the meaning of events and develop resources to change. CBT can
be used in relation to individuals, couples or families and groups.
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) aims to help the client to develop skills to manage their relationship
difficulties by making sense of how they might act in relationships. The premise of this approach is that when
an individual’s relationships improve, so do their psychological problems.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a cognitive behavioural treatment that was originally developed to treat
chronically suicidal individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and it is now recognized
as the gold standard psychological treatment for this population. In addition, research has shown that it is
effective in treating a wide range of other disorders such as substance dependence, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a psychological therapy designed to aid in preventing
the relapse of depression, specifically in individuals with Major depressive disorder (MDD). It uses
traditional Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) methods and adds in newer psychological strategies such
as mindfulness and mindfulness meditation. Cognitive methods can include educating the participant about
depression. Mindfulness and mindfulness meditation, focus on becoming aware of all incoming thoughts and
feelings and accepting them, but not attaching or reacting to them. Like CBT, MBCT functions on the theory
that when individuals who have historically had depression become distressed, they return to automatic
cognitive processes that can trigger a depressive episode. The goal of MBCT is to interrupt these automatic
processes and teach the participants to focus less on reacting to incoming stimuli, and instead accepting and
observing them without judgment. This mindfulness practice allows the participant to notice when automatic
processes are occurring and to alter their reaction to be more of a reflection.
Acceptance and commitment therapy or ACT (typically pronounced as the word "act") is a form of clinical
behaviour analysis (CBA) used in psychotherapy. It is an empirically-based psychological intervention that
uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change
strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. The approach was originally called comprehensive distancing. It
was developed in the late 1980s by Steven C. Hayes, Kelly G. Wilson, and Kirk Strosahl. Noam Shpancer
describes acceptance and commitment therapy as getting to know unpleasant feelings, then learning not to
act upon them, and to not avoid situations where they are invoked. Its therapeutic effect is according to him a
positive spiral where feeling better leads to a better understanding of the truth.
Behavioural activation is a third generation behaviour therapy for treating depression. It is one of many
functional analytic psychotherapies which are based on a Skinnerian psychological model of behaviour change,
generally referred to as applied behaviour analysis. This area is also a part of what is called clinical behaviour
analysis (CBA) (see behaviour) and makes up one of the most effective practices in the professional practice of
behaviour analysis.
Exposure therapy is a technique in behaviour therapy intended to treat anxiety disorders. It involves the
exposure of the patient to the feared object or context without any danger, in order to overcome
their anxiety. Procedurally it is similar to the fear extinction paradigm in rodent work. Numerous studies have
demonstrated its effectiveness in the treatment of anxiety disorders such as PTSD and specific phobias.
Exposure-based therapy may be effective in preventing the progression from acute stress disorder to posttraumatic stress disorder, according to a report in the June 2008 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. It is
also very closely related to exposure and response prevention, a method widely used for the treatment
of obsessive–compulsive disorder.
Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT), also called cognitive enhancement therapy (CET), is a cognitive
rehabilitation therapy developed at King's College in London designed to improve neurocognitive abilities such
as attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility and planning, and executive functioning which leads to
improved social functioning. In patients with schizophrenia, atypical antipsychotic medications have increased
the effectiveness of symptom management, but patients may remain socially or cognitively disabled. CET is
recommended for patients with schizophrenia who are stable with low risk of relapse. Also people with eating
disorders such as anorexia nervosa are considered to be cognitively inflexible with their perspectives of food.
In London, CRT was beneficial in the treatment of adults with anorexia nervosa, and in Poland among
adolescents with anorexia nervosa. In the United States clinical trials are still being conducted by Stanford
University in subjects over 16 as a conjunctive therapy with family based treatment. CRT has also been shown
to be useful in both children and adults with ADHD, as well as for cognitive deficits associated with major
depressive disorder CRT has also been used in a subset of pediatric cancer survivors who experienced
cognitive impairment due to the effects of cancer or cancer treatment on cognitive functioning. Clinical trials
have begun in 2010 in the United States by the National Institute of Health and the National Institute of Drug
Abuse on the efficacy of cognitive remediation upon the cognitive deficits associated with drug abuse. CRT is
usually administered via use of a computer, with the tasks appearing on the monitor.
Autogenic training is a relaxation technique developed by the German psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich
Schultz and first published in 1932. The technique involves the daily practice of sessions that last around 15
minutes, usually in the morning, at lunch time, and in the evening. During each session, the practitioner will
repeat a set of visualisations that induce a state of relaxation. Each session can be practiced in a position
chosen amongst a set of recommended postures (for example, lying down, sitting meditation, sitting like a rag
doll). The technique can be used to alleviate many stress-induced psychosomatic disorders.
EMDR therapy is recognized as an effective form of trauma treatment in numerous practice guidelines
worldwide. In the US, this includes organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association and
Department of Defence. More than twenty randomized studies support the effectiveness of the therapy in the
treatment of PTSD. Further, more than twenty randomized studies have demonstrated positive effects of the
eye movements.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a comprehensive, integrative psychotherapy
approach. It contains elements of many effective psychotherapies in structured protocols that are designed to
maximize treatment effects. These include psychodynamic, cognitive behavioural, interpersonal, experiential,
and body-centred therapies.
EMDR psychotherapy is an information processing therapy and uses an eight phase approach to address the
experiential contributors of a wide range of pathologies. It attends to the past experiences that have set the
groundwork for pathology, the current situations that trigger dysfunctional emotions, beliefs and sensations,
and the positive experience needed to enhance future adaptive behaviours and mental health.