The 10 most effective types of psychological therapy

These are the psychotherapeutic options that have the most empirical support for their efficacy

There are a large number of psychological therapies that can help people overcome their psychological problems. While some therapists use only one approach, others may use a mixture of different psychological treatments to meet the needs of their patients.

Despite the diversity of therapeutic offerings, however, not all forms of psychotherapy have been shown to be equally effective; some have much more empirical evidence than others.Some have much more empirical evidence in their favor, drawn from years of research on the effects they have on patients.

Therefore, here we will review the different types of psychological therapy that are most effective, taking into account the number of problems for which they have proven useful and the degree of evidence that exists about their benefits.

Not all psychotherapies are the same

The vast majority of the population associates the figure of the psychologist with a person who writes down in a notebook everything that a patient tells him or her while sitting on a couch. However, psychotherapy is not just about listening to a person and giving him/her advice.. A psychotherapist is a mental health professional with a solid theoretical and practical training, specializing in cognitive (thinking), affective (emotions) and behavioral (behavior) areas.

This means that psychotherapy is not simply "an art" based on the psychologist's sensitivity and empathy and the therapeutic bond he or she creates with the other person. The effectiveness of the treatment depends, in large part, on the knowledge and technical skills of that professional, as well as the type of therapy applied.

The most effective types of psychotherapy

In the world of psychology many theories and perspectives of therapeutic application coexist. In this article you can see the most effective types of psychotherapyIn this article you can see the most effective types of psychotherapy, taking into account that effectiveness has to do with the usefulness of each one of them when treating specific disorders: there are no one-size-fits-all therapies.

1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one of the most widely used psychological therapies today. This therapeutic model belongs to what is known as the second generation of behavioral therapies, and is characterized by the fact that it considers that abnormal behavior patterns have their origin in the existence of a series of distorted and dysfunctional schemas and thought processes, which, together with the behavioral patternswhich, together with the learned behavioral patterns, cause great suffering to the patient.

Specifically, from this proposal it is understood that in order to generate therapeutic changes it is necessary to intervene both in the observable habits and routines and in the thought schemes that shape our way of interpreting things and of setting goals.

Thus, the objective of this type of therapy is to modify beliefs, dysfunctional beliefs, thoughts and habits with a series of cognitive and behavioral techniques. For example, social skills training, expository techniques, modeling or cognitive restructuring, among others.

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy.

If I said earlier that cognitive behavioral therapy belonged to the group of so-called second-generation therapies, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is considered a third-generation therapy. These therapies focus on the dialogue and the functional context of the person, and acceptance and a non-judgmental attitude as a way to improve the emotional health of the as a way to improve people's emotional health.

MBCT was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, as an eight-week program for relapse prevention in patients with depression, emotional stress and anxiety. It combines meditation and mindfulness exercises with learning cognitive therapy skills, such as detecting and interrupting maladaptive thought patterns that lead to depression or anxiety.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

This psychotherapeutic approach belongs to the category of Cognitive Behavioral Therapies and was specifically designed to intervene in cases of Cognitive Behavioral Disorder. to intervene in cases of Borderline Personality Disorder, in the treatment of which it has been shown to be very effective.in the treatment of which it has been shown to be very effective. It combines elements of Mindfulness with the tools of cognitive-behavioral psychology (on which most of this proposal is based) and strategies of distress management.

4. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy also belongs to the third generation therapies, and aims to create a full and meaningful life for the patient, accepting Pain as normal. It has its origin in the Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and pays much attention to language and cognition. and pays much attention to language and cognition.

Thus, it understands language as something that has a positive potential for the human being, but it can also create a lot of suffering. She focuses on self-discovery and value clarification as essential elements in therapy. Also, it questions what is socially or culturally accepted, because it causes the patient an attempt to control his or her private events and causes great suffering.

5. Systemic therapy

Systemic therapy is mainly used for family and couple problems (although also for individuals), as it is a more holistic and integrative approach, which takes into account the relationships between the members of a group. For this reason, a systemic therapist can work with several family members at the same time or with a couple, although he or she may also intervene with only one person, although the therapy will still focus on the realm of personal interactions.

The therapy focuses on the relationships within the family and the couple, and observes how they interact and what their relational styles and communication patterns are, taking into account the different systems that make up their context. In addition, it is based on the constructivist current, which means that it places great emphasis on the way in which meaning is constructed from personal experiences.

• To go deeper: "Systemic therapy: what is it and what principles is it based on?"

6. Brief Therapy

Brief therapy emerged thanks to systemic therapy in the 1970s. It was at that time when the latter began to be applied to treat a single individual, without the whole family being present.without the whole family being present. This form of therapy is a brief, simple but effective model that allows people to empower themselves to change through a series of procedures and techniques. The idea is not to spend effort and time on something that could have a quicker solution.

7. Interpersonal psychotherapy

Interpersonal psychotherapy is a therapeutic model devised by Klerman, Weissman and collaborators, and is based on the critical analysis of the social elements that influence the development of psychopathologies. It works on the connections between symptoms and current interpersonal problems, such as relationship problems.

The focus of this form of therapy is on current social relationships and how expectations within these relationships may be causing pathological symptoms in a patient. Treatment involves resolving relationship problems or finding new relationships or activities as compensation.

It has been shown to be particularly effective in intervening in cases of bulimia and binge eating disorder, as well as major depression. A variant of this, called Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy, is used to treat patients with Bipolar Disorder.

8. Biofeedback

Technically, biofeedback is not so much a form of psychotherapy as it is a tool used in psychotherapy and has a broader use. In any case, it is one of the most valuable resources that psychologists can use when intervening in certain problems.

Its application is relatively simple: it consists of making the person aware, in real time, of the psychological or physiological processes that are taking place in his or her body. In other words, a perception - reaction - perception loop is created loop is created, which allows the person to adjust his behavior (partly involuntarily) to what is desirable, in order to return to equilibrium.

Biofeedback has been shown to be particularly effective in treating cases of chronic pain.

9. Training in relaxation techniques

In many cases, much of the usefulness of psychotherapy depends on the way in which the person learns to manage his or her emotions and regulate his or her physiological state. In this sense, training through relaxation techniques is very versatile, as it can be applied in cases of chronic pain, phobias and many kinds of anxiety disorders.It can be applied in cases of chronic pain, phobias and many kinds of anxiety disorders.

On the other hand, it must be taken into account that anxiety problems are very frequent and can easily contribute to the appearance of other disorders. contribute to the appearance of other mental health disorders.. Thus, this therapeutic tool can be used to prevent several situations that would wear down the well-being of the patient.

To learn more about this therapeutic option, you can read the following article: "6 easy relaxation techniques to combat stress".

10. Reminiscence therapy

This type of psychotherapy is widely used to treat cases of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases that affect memory and are in the early stages. For example, it is very effective in patients with Alzheimer's disease, ya que ayuda a frenar los síntomas (en el sentido de que ralentiza su avance).

Su papel es consolidar el autoconcepto y reforzar los procesos mentales vinculados con la sensación de identidad propia, estimular el lenguaje y mejorar la autoestima.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• Change, D.J. (2010). Empirical evidence on the use and effectiveness of telepsychiatry via videoconferencing: implications for forensic and correctional psychiatry. Soc Sci Med 71: pp. 1308 – 1315.
• Huhn, M.; Tardy, M.; Spineli, L.M. (2014). Efficacy of Pharmacotherapy and Psychotherapy for Adult Psychiatric Disorders A Systematic Overview of Meta-analyses. JAMA Psychiatry, 71(6): pp. 706 - 715.
• Wampold, B.E.; Flückiger, C.; Del Re, A.C.; Yulish, N.E.; Frost, N.D.; Pace, B.T. et al. (2017). In pursuit of truth: A critical examination of meta-analyses of cognitive behavior therapy. Psychotherapy Research. 27 (1): pp. 14 - 32.