Distinctions Between Different Types of Therapy

Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies focus on addressing, acknowledging, observing and changing unhelpful patterns of thinking or behavior. They do this through inviting the client to take action in the here-and-now by assigning homework, developing skills, and practicing in-session strategies designed to target and shift specific problem areas in the client’s life.

Examples include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). These therapies work less with what’s underlying a client’s struggle, but more so with what they can control, and their motivation to work on change.

Humanistic and Experiential therapies were among the first to centre the whole of the person in their treatment, rather than a single area or two in that person’s life, tailoring interventions to address the unique experience of the individual.

These therapies are less interested in solving a client’s problem and more interested in buttressing their experience of personal capability, their strengths to help themselves while scaffolding them through vulnerability. Examples include Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), Person Centered Therapy, and Narrative Therapy.

Psychodynamic therapies prioritize depth, and exploring prospective root causes for clients’ struggles or unhelpful patterns, which may at first be out of their awareness; they view having context and meaning for why we are the way we are or why we do the things we do as instrumental to making lasting changes.

Many of these therapies also view reflecting on client-therapist dynamics as important to self understanding and meaning making. Examples include Relational Psychotherapy, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, and Object Relations Psychotherapy.

Somatic psychotherapies primarily work with the body; they may be sought out by those who experience their emotional distress physically, or by those who do not respond to traditional talk therapy methods. Somatic psychotherapies explore how emotions manifest in the body, tracking bodily responses and reactions throughout sessions; they may also connect bodily sensations to emotions and memories. Examples include Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Bioenergetic Therapy.

As a therapist I take an eclectic and integrative approach, blending different types of therapy – psychodynamic, humanistic, and some behavioural based approaches remain at the foundation of my work. Please feel welcome to reach out via my contact page for a 20-minute virtual consultation to explore how I work as a therapist and how I could support you in sessions. Please allow for 24 business hours to receive a response. I look forward to connecting with you!