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

In the world of psychotherapy services there are several approaches or modalities of intervention; These are paradigms that start from different techniques and purposes when it comes to helping patients.

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

• Related article: "The 8 benefits of going to psychological therapy"

The different approaches to psychological therapy

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

The task of choosing the form of intervention and the techniques to be used is part of the work of professionals mental health, and you must focus on what you want to overcome.

That said, if you are interested in getting an idea about which are the most widely used therapeutic approaches, read on: here you will find a review of their main characteristics.

1. Cognitive behavioral therapy

As its name suggests, cognitive-behavioral therapy aims to lead the patient towards improvement, allowing him to adapt through changes in his way of behaving and thinking.

This is one of the most used and effective forms of psychological intervention faced with a wide variety of problems, and part of the methods of behavior therapy developed in the middle of the 20th century, although adding tools to act also in the mental processes more linked to subjectivity.

2. Contextual therapies

Contextual therapies are based on the proposals of cognitive-behavioral therapy although they carry beyond their approaches, which is why they are also known as third-party therapies generation.

Although various types of therapy with their own tools and goals are grouped into this category, they generally have in common the following: The idea of ​​not always aiming for the complete elimination of symptoms, but rather that the most important thing in them is to enhance the well-being of the patient leading him not to try to avoid emotional pain at all costs (since this gives more power to that source of discomfort) and also the idea of what A good part of the solution to a problem passes by going beyond the individual and looking at their social and cultural context. One of the most important representatives of this group is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

3. Mindfulness

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

It is a set of practices that promote a state of calm consciousness in which, at the same time, we learn not to reject feelings that we would normally consider "negative", and we also learn not to obsess over what we want to achieve at all costs. They are exercises inspired by the millenary Vipassana meditation, although in this case the nature of what is done is not of a nature. religious, but aims to reach therapeutic goals (so its use is also more systematic than meditation traditional).

• You may be interested in: "What is Mindfulness? The 7 answers to your questions "

4. Gestalt therapy

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

Because of this, the humanist approach is based on the idea that each one should work to give meaning to their life project, in good times and also in bad times, since we should not wait for a plan to arrive “from the outside” on what to do.

Thus, this set of forms of psychological intervention emphasizes the importance of the patient's subjectivity and his capacity to give meaning to what happens to him. Therefore, Gestalt therapy is characterized by offering tools with which to become aware of one's own emotions and resignify them to give them output 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 proven effective, among other situations, with cases of Borderline Personality Disorder and with certain cases of depression.

Do you want to go to psychotherapy?

If you have decided to go to the psychologist to start a psychotherapy process, get in touch with our team of professionals.

On Advance Psychologists We are backed by more than two decades dedicating ourselves to 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.

Bibliographic references:

• Almendro, M.T. (2012). Psychotherapies. CEDE PIR Preparation Manual, 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. And Méndez, F. X. (2008). Behavior Modification Techniques. Madrid: New Library.
• Siegel, D. (2010). Brain and mindfulness. Barcelona: Paidós.