Typical Therapies

This Therapy seeks to address suffering by encouraging one to Notice, Accept, and Embrace without Judgement. When working with an ACT Therapist you will be asked, “What are your Values”? Emotional pain can come from living a life that is incongruent with your Values. The focus is on finding new ways to relate to one’s experiences in order to get unstuck (rather than trying to change and control the content of the experience).

Kelly Wilson, one of the three founders of ACT, said, “One of the great causes of suffering is a sense of isolation, of not being fully heard, understood, truly known. Deep loneliness can take hold even when a person appears socially connected”.

What we believe affects how we behave. And not everything that we have believed – about ourselves or others – is accurate, or constructive. The habitual behaviours that result are what psychologists call ‘maladaptive’ – they are inappropriate and ineffective ways of dealing with confronting situations.

Did you know that you can outgrow your beliefs?

Cognitive behaviour therapy is based on the idea that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviours; not external things, like people, situations, and events. The benefit of this fact is that we can change the way we think, in order to feel and to behave better even if the situation does not change.

Cognitive behaviour therapy is considered among the most rapid therapies in terms of results obtained. The reason for this is its highly instructive nature and the fact that it makes use of homework assignments.

CBT teaches you how to redefine what you believe so that it fits with your life now. It enables you to move out of that rut, feel stronger, build confidence and foster healthy relationships. This therapy is effective for treating depression, anxiety/stress, addictions, mood disorders and grief.

Mindfulness therapies acknowledge the importance and acceptance of thoughts, feelings and our own personal context. Clients learn how to become aware of and tune into their moment-to-moment experience, hence the term Mindfulness.

Fear and suffering is the cause of most emotional pain. Using simple exercises for mind and body these therapies help the client move out of Fear and Avoidance and towards Wisdom and Compassion for self.

Through mindfulness therapy you learn to withhold judgement and to forego criticism. You learn progressively to face all your fears, and stop avoiding them, by paying increasing attention to emotions and physical sensations without getting overwhelmed by them.

As a result you become a balanced, mature, adaptable individual who is able to take control of emotions, feel and express compassion for others, and stand up for your own beliefs.

Affect Regulation Therapy (ART) teaches the client to focus on what is happening in the present. It breaks through emotional and cognitive blockages by using exercises to balance and integrate all our senses – visual, auditory, movement and breath. ART is useful in treating depression, anxiety, and stuck thinking.

Psycho comes from the Greek word for the soul – our mind, and our emotions, and our will. Psychotherapy in its wider sense is the treatment of psychological distress – mental, emotional and volitional – through talking with a specially trained therapist and learning new ways to cope rather than merely using medication to alleviate the distress. It is done with the immediate goal of aiding the person in increasing self-knowledge and awareness of relationships with others. Psychotherapy is carried out to assist people in becoming more conscious of their unconscious thoughts, feelings, and motives.

Psychotherapy’s longer-term goal is to make it possible for people to exchange destructive patterns of behaviour for healthier, more successful ones.

The aim of psychotherapy is to help the client understand what makes them feel positive or anxious, as well as accepting their strong and vulnerable points. If people can identify their feelings and ways of thinking they become better at coping with difficult situations.

Psychotherapy is commonly used for psychological problems that have had a number of years to accumulate. It only works if a trusting relationship can be built up between the client and the therapist. Treatment can continue for several months, and even years. Generally, sessions occur about once a week and last for one hour.

Soma is the Greek word for the body. In somatic psychotherapy the focus is on understanding and moving through traumas and emotions held in the body but which may not be conscious. You may have lived your life reacting to people, places and things but not know why. This therapy helps to find and work though causes, releasing you to respond more appropriately as new situations arise.

There are times when pharmacological treatments are necessary. Examples include entrenched depression or anxiety, Bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia.

If occasion arises your GP can direct you to a suitable psychiatrist.Talk Therapy and pharmacotherapy can be great in combination.

Homeopathic and naturopathic remedies are known to be of benefit when symptoms are acute.

Twelve Step Programmes are a great combination with therapy.

If there was one thing I would want therapy to do for people it would be for every one of them to feel that they had been treated with respect, wisdom and compassion.

Therapy is for mind, body and spirit.

You are encouraged to be an active participant in your therapy. You can expect to:

• Grow emotionally.
• Develop flexibility.
• Harness your unique talents.
• Build sustainable relationships and a balanced lifestyle.