What kind of therapy is best for me?

Everyone has gone through tough times once in their lifetime. The best solution to get it over is taking care of yourself and your mental health. Going to therapy is the best and hardest decision you can make in order to move forward.

However, it’s quite common not to know where to start. There are 100 different types of therapies and counselling. It’s not easy to rely on a stranger and entrust your deepest feelings. Not everyone is prepared to share personal private information with a specialist. It may seem a little bit intimidating. At BetterHelp you can find all the information you need about the best therapy for you.

There’s a common misunderstanding about therapists and psychologists. People tend to believe you need to be mentally disturbed to talk to a therapist. This belief is far from being true. Everyone needs help and counselling provides useful tools to get through difficult times.

If you’ve already decided to enrol in a program or attend a therapy session, you need to know there are different approaches and kinds of treatments that suit your needs and match your preferences. The therapy you choose to take should depend on the problems you’re facing. Long-term treatments are more valid for people who suffer from depression, whereas a psychiatrist is recommended for patients who need medication.

There are a couple of tips which will help you out to discover the many kinds of therapies and counselling available and how you can benefit from them. The only thing you need to bear in mind is what you expect from therapy and if you’re ready to talk about your worries and concerns.

Art therapy

There are many psychological disorders that can be treated through artistic expressions such as art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy and play therapy. Children- in particular- find it difficult to talk to a counsellor about their concerns. In such a case, people who can’t put into words what they’re going through may find art therapies a useful tool to channel what’s bothering them.

This kind of treatment proves to help patients to get better and recover from any mental illness. Through creative artistic expression, people are able to express their emotions, cope with stress, work on social skills, among other benefits.

The most common techniques used in art therapy include painting, drawing, colouring, collage, sculpting among other kinds of handicrafts. Patients then analyze their own productions in order to find a particular theme, conflicts or emotions they’ve bottled up for a long period of time and affect in some way their behaviour.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

For patients who are fond of structure and linear thinking, Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CBT) are the best options. This therapy considers that you are what you think. It means that you can improve your mental health, your emotions and behaviour just by changing the way you think about things.

Since we’re holistic beings, an event or the way we interpret that event affects not only our emotions or feelings but also our body. CBT percibes your emotions, behaviour, thoughts and body sensations as interrelated rather than separate states.

CBT is a technique and not a treatment which embraces common and well-known techniques like Cognitive Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and other behaviour-based therapies. It’s appropriate for patients who suffer from anxiety, panic attacks or depression. That’s the reason why this therapy is considered a short-term treatment which only requires between 12 and 16 sessions. You can attend face-to-face, online, individual or group meetings. Ideally, these meetings are once per week with assignments in-between sessions.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

This technique perfectly works for those who need to gain control over their emotions. If you consider you need to manage your emotions or feel you have a difficult one such as anger, then, this therapy suits you.

DBT is based on problem-solving techniques and strategies to learn to accept yourself. Not only is this therapy appropriate for emotional distress but also interpersonal relationship problems and behavioural problems.

If you are suffering from self-harm, eating disorders, destructive-thoughts patterns, suicidal thoughts or personality disorders; this technique is considered for you.  DBT will help you out with useful tools to be more in control of your emotions with the aid of a professional.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

It’s not a recent technique but an ancient one which is based on meditation. This therapy resorts to mindfulness to help you understand how negative thoughts affect your mental and body health. The main objective of MBCT is to aid patients and provide them with tools to alter and change the way they react to those negative thoughts.

The core of MBCT is to help people to develop a new attitude and way of thinking. To achieve this goal, the patient can resort to talking about his/her concerns so as to overcome them. She/He can also practise meditation at least 30 minutes in-between sessions so as to train the brain to think differently.

It’s a very practical and life-transforming approach which is more difficult than it sounds. It is so since people tend to have busy and preoccupied minds which makes it difficult to distance themselves from a negative attitude.

Only you can decide what kind of therapy suits you best. There are many approaches and all of them have pros and cons depending on your goals, how you feel and your expectations. No matter the kind of technique you decide to choose, you need to feel comfortable with your counsellor and get along with him/her.

Successful therapy is based on a good relationship with your therapist or psychologist since the expert you need to feel free to vent your problems and find relief. The right professional will apply several approaches to you with a more individualized and tailored approach based on your needs and preferences.