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CBT: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps people learn how to identify and change the destructive or disturbing thought patterns that have a negative influence on their behavior and emotions.1Cognitive behavioral therapy combines cognitive therapy with behavior therapy by identifying maladaptive patterns of thinking, emotional responses, or behaviors and replacing them with more desirable patterns.2Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on changing the automatic negative thoughts that can contribute to and worsen our emotional difficulties, depression, and anxiety. These spontaneous negative thoughts also have a detrimental influence on our mood.
Through CBT, faulty thoughts are identified, challenged, and replaced with more objective, realistic thoughts.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a type of psychotherapy that combines cognitive therapy, meditation, and mindfulness. It's designed to help people with depression, anxiety, and other negative emotions.
MBCT is an intervention program that aims to:
MBCT helps patients learn mind management skills. It incorporates elements of:
MBCT focuses on changing how people relate to their thoughts, rather than changing the content of their thoughts. For example, patients may learn to distance themselves from their thoughts.
Mindfulness-based therapy can include:
IPT: IPT is a structured type of therapy, which means that treatment progresses in three distinct phases.
During the first one to three sessions, a therapist will diagnose the issue and help the client identify the interpersonal issues that preceded or maintained the psychological distress.
For example, a person going through a breakup might notice that their depression developed after the breakup. The therapist will also develop an “interpersonal inventory” that reviews the client’s pattern of behavior in relationships and evaluation of current relationships.
IPT therapists believe that four areas of conflict typically trigger relationship and mental health issues. These are:
Once the therapist and their client identify the area of conflict that causes the latter’s distress, therapy will focus on managing this conflict.
During the middle portion of treatment, the therapist will develop targeted relationship strategies to bolster interpersonal functioning. For example, they might help a client who is going through a breakup mourn the relationship and the role it represents, then help them cultivate new skills and ways of relating to other
Behavior modification: Behavior modification is a method used to replace negative behavior patterns with desired behaviors or promote behavior change. “I use behavior modification to help my clients replace unwanted behaviors with more desirable ones by using different operations such as praise, approval, and token economies
In order for behavior modification therapy to be truly successful, it’s important to keep several things in mind:
Be consistent. It’s important to maintain particular practices, especially with children, across the board. This means everyone in the family (parents, siblings, grandparents, and other caretakers), babysitters or childcare providers, and teachers should be made aware of any expectations you’ve put into place for your child and agree to follow that same system. This applies to both reinforcements and punishments.
Maintain the habit. Unfortunately, the behavior modification process doesn’t stop once a good habit is established with a desired behavior or a negative pattern is broken. The work is ongoing in order to make sure the behaviors don’t recur. Once a pattern of desired behavior has been established, think about varying the schedule. While you’re establishing the pattern, you may give your child a reward or praise every time they complete the target behavior. Over time, however, that incentive fades, so you should modify its frequency to maintain the value, or change the reward to keep things interesting.
Customize the method. As with most things in life, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to behavior modification. You know your child and yourself better than anyone else. If you find a particular approach isn’t working, try something else!
Be patient and realistic. Behavior modification can take time and a good dose of patience, both with yourself and with those around you. Falling back on harmful habits is common, and it’s not the end of the world. Keep at it and you’ll be back on track.
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