Which Type Of Therapy Is Right For You? Exploring Different Therapy Modalities

When it comes to addressing mental health disorders and general life concerns, therapists may use several different techniques to treat their clients. These therapeutic modalities can vary depending on what a person is struggling with, their symptoms, and how severely their daily functioning is being affected. 

For example, someone who is seeking help navigating their romantic relationship may benefit from imago relationship therapy or emotion-focused therapy, while someone struggling with phobias may try exposure therapy. A mental health professional can identify what type of treatment is right for you, whether that be through DBT, CBT, or any other type of therapeutic approach. 

Why explore therapy modalities?

When the topic of therapy comes up, many people assume that each person’s experience is similar. Most forms of therapy share a common goal of assisting individuals with mental health concerns, but each modality approaches things from a different angle. 

Exploring different therapy modalities allows you to find treatment methods that are proven effective for the emotions and mental health concerns that you want to address. It also helps you examine how different modalities might approach these concerns.

Dialectical behavior therapy

Dialectical behavior therapy, also known as DBT, is a form of talk therapy often used for people experiencing emotional dysregulation. It is a common treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD), but people without BPD can also benefit from this approach.

In DBT, the goal is typically to help individuals understand and accept their circumstances in life while also changing unwanted behaviors, treating mental illness, and finding healthy ways to cope. DBT can be a very structured form of therapy involving both individual and group sessions. In individual sessions, people learn how to reduce harmful or unwanted behaviors and work toward developing new ways to cope. In group therapy, individuals will likely learn four specific coping skills: mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotion regulation. These are considered benchmarks of DBT.

What conditions does dialectical behavior therapy treat?

DBT is often recommended for Individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but it’s also used for many other mental health conditions and concerns. For example, DBT may be an effective treatment for the following disorders:

• Some eating disorders
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Substance use disorder
• Self-harm
• Suicidal ideation
• Post-traumatic stress disorder

Cognitive behavioral therapy

One of the most common types of therapy is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It can be an effective form of therapy for children, adolescents, and adults, and is proven effective for a wide range of physical and mental health conditions. Additionally, CBT may help people who don’t necessarily have a mental or physical health condition but are going through a hard time. It can help those experiencing grief, managing excessive stress, or learning to communicate more effectively.

CBT focuses on a person’s thoughts and how they can shape our lives and experiences. Through CBT, individuals can learn to recognize their own negative, unhelpful, or ingrained patterns of thinking and change those patterns to view difficult situations with more clarity. Numerous studies indicate that CBT is an effective form of treatment and can lead to significant improvements in individuals’ lives, mental health, and overall well-being.

Who can benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy?

Since the 1960s, CBT has been proven to be effective in treating several different mental health conditions, including:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Eating disorders
• Substance use disorder
• Personality disorders
• Bipolar Disorder
• Schizophrenia

CBT has also shown promise in treating physical ailments like irritable bowel syndrome, migraines, insomnia, and fibromyalgia. 

Cognitive behavioral family therapy

As a CBT subtype, cognitive behavioral family therapy (CBFT) applies CBT techniques to family units. Therapists using CBFT often work with multiple members of the family to resolve issues with family dynamics. This therapeutic modality is also sometimes used to help individuals with family-related trauma. 

What issues can cognitive behavioral family therapy help with?

CBFT is helpful for a wide range of family-related issues and mental health conditions that arise within family units. Here are examples of different concerns a therapist might address with CBFT: 

• Self-defeating and irrational beliefs 
• Trouble maintaining family relationships 
• Trauma caused by family members or family structure
• Substance use issues of one or more family members 
• Relationship challenges

Holistic therapy

As the name suggests, holistic therapy typically focuses on the entire person – including their mind, body, and spirit – rather than just their mental health condition or life stress. In holistic therapy, therapists may combine aspects of traditional and nontraditional therapy; for example, a holistic therapist may use CBT (a conventional approach) and meditation (a nonconventional approach).

Who can benefit from holistic therapeutic modalities?

Since holistic therapy considers the whole person, it may be well-suited for people struggling with multiple challenges or for those who don’t have one single defined problem that brought them to therapy. Holistic therapy, which can involve practices like breathwork, acupuncture, hypnosis, and meditation, may be effective in relieving certain symptoms of:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Trauma
• Stress
• Substance use disorder
• Family struggles
• Work-related problems

Person-centered therapy

Also known as Rogerian therapy or client-centered therapy, person-centered therapy focuses on the client, who leads the therapy session. In this type of therapy, the client does most of the talking, since person-centered therapy suggests that everyone has the ability to find their own solutions to the problems they’re facing. Like humanistic therapy, this approach operates with the goal of helping individuals become more empowered and confident in their decisions. As the individual discusses their problems and potential solutions, the therapist acts as a source of support, compassion, and encouragement.

Who can benefit from person-centered therapy?

People who may benefit from person-centered therapy include those struggling with confidence, individuals looking to improve performance at work, people struggling with family problems, and those looking at how to cope with life stressors. Additionally, person-centered therapy may help with depression and anxiety. 

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy

EMDR is a type of therapy that was developed to help people who have gone through traumatic events and are still experiencing distress from them. For this reason, EMDR is frequently used to treat post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In EMDR, your therapist will ask you to recall a traumatic memory. As you think of the memory, your therapist will instruct you to utilize specific eye movements to help reprocess the memory, which over time can lessen distress.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: What conditions does it treat?

EMDR is often effective for individuals diagnosed with PTSD, helping lessen their responses to certain thoughts or stimuli following traumatic experiences. Mental health professionals also recommend EMDR for conditions like those below:

• Anxiety and anxiety disorders
• Eating disorders
• Depression disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder 
• Gender dysphoria
• Dissociative disorders

Somatic modalities

While many types of therapy are focused on the mind, emotions, and thoughts, somatic therapies focus more on the body. There is evidence that supports the idea of trauma being stored or pent up in the body, and with this knowledge comes the need for body-based therapeutic modalities. Somatic therapy modalities may utilize body-based techniques such as tapping, breathing, and body awareness.

Somatic interventions can be beneficial for anyone with a history of trauma or those who are interested in the mind-body connection. Somatic modalities can help people who struggle with anxiety, anger, depression, grief, and other difficult emotions. One study involving people with PTSD demonstrated that somatic experiencing therapy, which involves focusing on bodily sensations and guided imagery, improved symptoms of depression significantly. 

Other types of somatic therapeutic modalities include:

• Yoga therapy
• Hakomi
• Neurosomatic therapy

Emotion-focused therapy

The American Psychological Association defines emotion-focused therapy (EFT) as “an integrative individual therapy that focuses on emotion as the key determinant of personality development and of psychotherapeutic change.”

EFT therapists help clients identify and become aware of their emotions. The goal is to help the individual accept, make sense of, and regulate their emotions as part of the healing process. It uses techniques from CBT, gestalt therapy, and client-centered therapy. It’s rooted in the belief that emotions are fundamental to our sense of self and can help encourage adaptive behavior. 

What conditions can emotion-focused therapy help with?

Therapists might use EFT to address any mental health concern in which the client is struggling with difficult emotions. It’s often used to treat things like: 

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Relationship problems 
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Stress

How to decide which modality is right for you

It can be difficult to know which therapy modality may be right for you, but some factors may help narrow things down. For example, if you’ve been diagnosed with BPD, you may look into dialectical behavior therapy, since it can have high success rates for treating BPD. If you feel that you’ve hit a wall with talk therapy or CBT, you may find EMDR or somatic modalities useful. 

Ask a therapist for information about different treatment modalities

Additionally, speaking with a mental health professional can be a helpful way to understand which type of therapy may be most beneficial to you. If you have a current therapist, you can ask them which modalities they offer and discuss which ones you’d like to try. If you don’t currently have a therapist but are looking to begin therapy, you can have a phone consultation with therapists you’re interested in working with. During the consultation, you can ask questions about the modalities they offer. From there, you can discuss which techniques may be most beneficial for the areas you’re seeking help with.

Starting treatment with a therapist

Whether you’re interested in traditional talk therapy or nontraditional modalities like yoga therapy, one thing is clear: people who utilize mental health services often experience positive improvements in their well-being. Therapy can help you learn new skills to cope with difficulties in life, help you move past traumas, and improve the symptoms of many mental health conditions. 

Seeking therapy can be a powerful way to invest in yourself, your relationships, and your overall well-being. You can also get access to therapy that works for you, whether that’s in-person therapy, relationship therapy, group therapy, or online therapy.

Try different therapy modalities online

With online therapy, you can speak with a therapist from the comfort of your home, making sessions more convenient and comfortable. You can connect with a licensed counselor through the BetterHelp platform and explore which therapeutic modality might suit you. Whether you’re struggling with relationships, unhelpful habits, or negative thought patterns, a therapist can equip you with coping skills and help you find ways to heal. 

Opting for online treatment also means you’ll have access to a wider range of therapists, and therefore therapeutic modalities, than you might with local in-person options.

Consider cognitive behavioral therapy with online therapists

Research has shown that online therapy can be just as effective as in-person therapy for treating various mental health conditions. One study found that internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was even more effective in treating adult depression than face-to-face therapy. 

The efficacy of online cognitive behavioral therapy

Much like traditional CBT, internet-based CBT is a therapeutic modality that focuses on the connection between one’s thoughts and behaviors. It teaches people how to identify their negative, automatic thought patterns and create newer, more positive ways of thinking, thereby helping to alter their behavior

Takeaway

There are many different therapeutic modalities that may be suited for various mental health conditions and life stressors. DBT is a standard treatment for those struggling with emotional regulation, while CBT is one of the most effective forms of talk therapy for a wide range of challenges. Person-centered therapy empowers the individual to solve their own dilemmas and can be helpful for depression, anxiety, and self-esteem struggles. 

Holistic and somatic therapies focus on the mind-body connection, while EMDR has been proven to be particularly healing for those with trauma. Understanding the different types of treatment available may be a helpful way to discover which modality could be the right fit for you. If you’re still unsure which therapy might be most suited to your situation, connecting with a licensed therapist could help. To receive specialized care from the comfort of your home, consider matching with a therapist through an online counseling platform like BetterHelp.