How do you know which type of therapeutic approach is right for you?

Let's look at the characteristics of the different psychotherapeutic approaches.

In the world of psychotherapy services there are several approaches or modalities of intervention; these are paradigms based on different techniques and purposes when it comes to helping patients.

How do you know which one to opt for if you are someone who is looking for professional psychological support? Let's see a summary of these different therapeutic approaches.

The different approaches to psychological therapy

If you have asked yourself the question of how to choose the therapy specialization that best suits you, the first thing you should know is that there is no reason to worry: as long as the professional or team of professionals has the training to intervene in the problem that affects you, that is enough.

The task of choosing the form of intervention and the techniques to be used is part of the job of the mental health professionals, and you should be able to make that choice yourself. and you must focus on what you want to overcome.

That said, if you are interested in getting an idea of the most commonly used therapeutic approaches, read on: here you will find an overview of their main characteristics.

1. Cognitive-behavioral therapy

As its name suggests, cognitive-behavioral therapy aims to lead the patient towards improvement by allowing him or her to adapt through changes in the way he or she behaves and thinks.

This is one of the most widely used and effective forms of psychological intervention for a wide variety of problems, and is based on the methods of behavioral therapy developed in the mid-20th century. It is based on the methods of behavioral therapy developed in the middle of the 20th century, but with the addition of tools to act also on the mental processes more closely linked to subjectivity.

Contextual therapies

Contextual therapies are based on the proposals of cognitive-behavioral therapy although they take its approaches further, which is why they are also known as third-generation therapies.

Although in this category are grouped several types of therapy with their own tools and objectives, in general they have in common the idea of not always aiming at the complete elimination of symptoms, but the most important thing in them is to enhance the patient's well-being by not trying to avoid at all costs the emotional Pain (since this gives more power to that source of discomfort) and also the idea that much of the solution to a problem involves going beyond the individual and looking at the social and cultural context.. One of the most important representatives of this group is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a very versatile therapeutic resource that is relatively simple to learn and apply. For this reason, it is used in many different contexts, and it is even common for contextual therapies to rely on it.

It is a set of practices that favor a state of calm awareness in which, at the same time, we learn not to reject feelings that we would normally consider "negative", and we also learn not to become obsessed with what we want to achieve at all costs, we learn not to reject feelings that we would normally consider "negative", and we also learn not to become obsessed with what we want to achieve at any cost.. These exercises are inspired by the ancient Vipassana meditation, although in this case the nature of what is done is not of a religious nature, but aims to reach therapeutic objectives (so its use is also more systematic than traditional meditation).

4. Gestalt Therapy

Gestalt therapy is one of the variants of therapies based on humanistic psychology. The latter is inspired by two psychological currents that complement each other: humanistic philosophy, on the one hand, and existentialist philosophy, on the other.

Because of this, the humanistic approach starts from the idea that everyone must work on giving meaning to his or her life project, in the good moments and also in the bad ones, since we should not wait for a plan on what to do "from the outside".We should not wait for a plan of what to do "from the outside".

Thus, this set of forms of psychological intervention emphasizes the importance of the patient's subjectivity and his or her capacity to give meaning to what happens to him or her. Therefore, Gestalt therapy is characterized by offering tools with which to become aware of one's own emotions and to re-signify them in order to give them an outlet in a constructive way according to the context in which one lives and one's own values and interests.

5. Psychodynamic therapy

Psychodynamic therapy is influenced by the psychodynamic model of the mind initially developed by Sigmund Freud.although it has more concrete and short and medium term objectives than the intervention proposal of the father of psychoanalysis. This form of intervention has been shown to be effective, among other situations, with cases of Borderline Personality Disorder and with certain forms of depression.

Do you want to go to psychotherapy?

If you have decided to go to a psychologist to start a psychotherapy process, contact our team of professionals.

In Avance Psychologists we have more than two decades of experience in the field of psychotherapy, and we work helping people of all ages. You will find us in the center of Madrid, and also through our online therapy service.

Bibliographical references:

• Almendro, M.T. (2012). Psychotherapies. Manual CEDE de Preparación PIR, 06. CEDE: Madrid.
• Field, T.A., Beeson, E.T., Jones, L.K. (2015), The New ABCs: A Practitioner's Guide to Neuroscience-Informed Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 37(3): pp. 206 - 220.
• Hayes, S.C. (2004). Acceptance and commitment therapy, relational frame theory, and the third wave of behavioral and cognitive therapies. Behavior therapy, 35, 639 - 665.
• Olivares, J. Y Méndez, F. X. (2008). Técnicas de Modificación de Conducta. Madrid: Biblioteca nueva.
• Siegel, D. (2010). Cerebro y mindfulness. Barcelona: Paidós.