While modern medicine may cure some diseases that would previously have been fatal, there are still many conditions that profoundly affect humans. Although we cannot deny the effect that a physical ailment has upon our well-being, mental illnesses can immensely impact our life quality. Mental disorders are often much more insidious than physical diseases as they can go undetected for long periods. They can affect every aspect of our life, ranging from our work productivity, relationships, and overall happiness. They can make us feel restricted and stifled without giving us a clear cause we can point to. It can be incredibly challenging to sort through any emotional and behavioral disturbances on our own, especially when we feel so isolated. Working with a therapist allows you to explore your traumas and your fears in a safe environment so that you can make the best recovery.
However, therapy isn’t one-size-fits-all, and you need to find a therapeutic model that aligns with your values. If you’re interested in learning more about the different types of therapy, keep reading below.
CBT is easily one of the most popular therapeutic approaches and one of the most effective. It is a short-term approach designed to give you the best results in a short time. CBT focuses on the link between our thoughts and our actions. It asserts that the way we think about certain events or activities affects how we feel and act about them. If we have irrational thinking processes, we will likely find ourselves suffering from emotional and behavioral disturbances. Your irrational thinking processes can lead you to have unrealistic expectations from yourself or others. CBT focuses on letting you address the irrationality of your thought processes and change the way you think.
If you feel that a rational, short-term approach is what you will benefit from, CBT is the best option. If you’re in San Francisco, you might be feeling anxious or depressed due to the mounting COVID-19 cases in the area. CBT can help you cope with lockdown and develop strategies to carry on to other aspects of your life. You can search for therapy San Francisco Ca, to get help in treatments, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Gestalt therapy takes a holistic approach to mental health and teaches you to be more present at the moment instead of dwelling on the past or the future. It takes a more dramatic approach to therapy and asks clients to re-enact moments in the past instead of just talking about them. Interventions such as the Empty Chair help clients bring into the current events from the past or future. In particular, gestalt focuses on allowing the clients to develop greater self-awareness and realize that they are responsible for how they feel and act. Once you confront the past, gestalt therapy suggests that you can move forward into the future without feeling overburdened.
If you have unresolved feelings of anger, guilt, shame, fear, or pain, you may be a fitting candidate for gestalt therapy. It aims to not only help you overcome your emotional disturbances but influence every aspect of your life. Gestalt aims to help you reconcile with each part of yourself – even the details you aren’t aware of yet.
ACT is quite similar to CBT and other cognitive-behavioral therapies and focuses on helping clients own up to their actions and emotions. ACT works on the principle that society enforces a concept of destructive normality, which leads us to shun any emotions we feel are mildly negative. However, in doing so, we forget that experiencing negative emotions is as much a part of life as positivity. We have much to gain from confronting such emotions. ACT teaches us to stop denying and struggling with our feelings and instead accept them and work around them. The overall goal of ACT is to ensure greater psychological flexibility in the client, thus boosting their resilience.
Psychoanalysis is one of the most renowned psychological approaches, developed by Sigmund Freud, one of the most prominent figures in psychology. Freud asserted the importance of uncovering the unconscious mind, which played a vital role in influencing our emotions and actions. The unconscious can hold memories or emotions that were too painful for us to experience fully and thus became repressed. However, these repressed events can heavily influence our personality and our well-being if left untouched.
Also referred to as the ‘talking cure,’ psychoanalytic therapy is a journey where the client and therapist work together to unearth the unconscious, buried mind. Once the client understands the motives behind their emotions or behavior, they can start the healing process.
No matter what your goal is, therapy can help change your life for the better. The wisdom and self-awareness you gain through these therapeutic models will carry through all walks of life. Depending on your values and beliefs, some therapeutic models will suit you better than others. So, we hope this article helps you decide which model will help you achieve the greatest self-efficacy.
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