Different counsellors or psychotherapists may use different types of talk therapy. They may also use different skills, approaches or techniques (ways).
These include:
Who decides which therapy is best
You can work with your therapist to decide the best type of talk therapy for your needs.
Which ones they use depends on:
- your needs and what therapies suit you
- their education and training and if they specialise in certain areas of mental health
As well as 1-to-1 talk therapy you may have group-based therapy or counselling or psychotherapy with others. For example, with your partner or family.
Counselling
Counselling is a type of therapy. But some people may use counselling to refer to therapy in general.
Counselling is a talk therapy that involves a trained therapist listening to you and helping you find ways to deal with emotional issues.
At your appointment, your therapist helps you to talk about your feelings and emotions. They'll listen and support you without judging or criticising.
The therapist can help you gain a better understanding of your feelings and thought processes, and find your own solutions to problems. But they will not usually give advice or tell you what to do.
Psychotherapy
There are different types of psychotherapy. They help you get a better understanding of how you think and feel.
Your psychotherapist can suggest ways to resolve your difficulties. They can help you change your attitudes and behaviour.
Psychotherapy helps you understand more about yourself. It helps you to deal with difficult situations.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), person-centred therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy are all talk therapies.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
CBT helps you understand and change:
- how you think about your life
- unhelpful patterns of behaviour
You set goals with your therapist and may do tasks between sessions.
Self-help CBT (books and computer courses)
There are also self-help therapies such as books and computer courses based on CBT.
Sometimes computer courses based on CBT are known as online CBT or digital guided CBT.
Guided self-help is when you work through a CBT-based workbook or computer course with the support of a therapist.
Guided self-help is recommended as a treatment for:
- some types of depression
- anxiety
- panic disorder
- obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
The therapist works with you to understand your problems and make positive changes in your life.
Guided self-help aims to give you helpful tools and techniques that you can carry on using after the course has finished.
During the course your therapist will support you with face-to-face, online or phone appointments.
Get free guided digital CBT from the HSE and SilverCloud
Behavioural activation
Behavioural activation is sometimes used as part of CBT or another talk therapy.
It helps you make activities that you enjoy part of your daily routine. Your therapist helps you to plan and make small changes.
You'll also learn problem-solving skills to help you tackle problems that are affecting your mood.
It may be offered one-to-one or in a group with regular meetings or phone calls with a therapist.
Person-centred therapy
Person-centered therapy, or client-centered therapy, is an approach to therapy. It focuses on your ability for self-healing and growth. Your therapist creates a supportive and non-judgmental environment. This is so you can explore your thoughts, feelings, and experience. It helps you with positive change and personal development.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy helps you understand yourself better by looking at:
- your past, especially things that happened in childhood
- thoughts and feelings you might not be fully aware of (your unconscious mind)
These past experiences and thoughts can affect your thinking, feelings, relationships and behaviour today.
Emotion-focused therapy
Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) is an approach to therapy that places your emotions at the centre of change and healing. It helps you understand, experience and change your emotions to improve mental health and wellbeing, especially in relationships. EFT helps grow emotional awareness, regulation, and healthy emotional expression.
Other types of talk therapy
There are many other types of talk therapy that involve talking to a therapist about your feelings or problems.
Mindfulness-based therapies
Mindfulness-based therapies help you focus on your thoughts and feelings without becoming overwhelmed.
Your counsellor or therapist might bring mindfulness into your therapy. But there are standalone mindfulness-based therapies.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)
MBSR helps people learn how to cope with stress by combining:
- meditation
- gentle yoga
- mind-body exercises
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)
MBCT combines CBT with:
- meditation
- breathing exercises
Mindfulness
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT)
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) helps you:
- manage intense emotions
- develop healthy coping mechanisms
- improve interpersonal relationships
- increase mindfulness.
It was originally developed to treat borderline personality disorder (BPD). But it has been adapted to help mental health difficulties involving emotional dysregulation and self-harming behaviours.
DBT usually involves weekly individual and group sessions with a therapist to learn new skills.
Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR helps people who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
People with PTSD may have:
- intrusive thoughts
- memories
- nightmares
- flashbacks of past traumatic events
EMDR helps the brain reprocess memories of the traumatic event so the negative images, emotions and physical feelings they cause have less impact.
EMDR can be a distressing process, so it's important to have a good support network of family and friends around you if you plan to try it.
Talk therapy with others
As well as 1-to-1 talk therapy you may have counselling or psychotherapy with others.
Family therapy
You may be offered family therapy if the whole family is in difficulty, or if a member of your family is experiencing a mental health difficulty.
In family therapy, a therapist or a pair of therapists work with the whole family.
They explore each family member’s situation to understand the family's difficulties.
Family therapy can:
- promote positive communication
- improve stress management
- build problem-solving skills within the family
Relationship counselling and couple therapy
Relationship counselling or couple therapy can help when a relationship is in crisis.
Both partners talk in confidence to a counsellor or therapist. Together, they explore what has gone wrong in the relationship and how to change things for the better. This can help couples learn more about each other's needs and to communicate better.
Your partner will need to be willing to go through therapy with you. But therapy can still help if just 1 person attends.
Group therapy
Group therapy helps you find solutions to your problems by talking about them with other people and a therapist.
It is different to a support group or peer support group. Group therapy is facilitated (run) by a trained therapist.
Group therapy is useful for people who share a common problem to get support and advice from each other.
Some people find that group therapy suits them better than 1-to-1 therapy.
Ways to get talk therapy
You can get talk therapy: