Understanding Evidence-Based Therapy Approaches

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You probably hear a lot about finding the right therapist. But you don't often hear about finding the right type of therapy. Therefore, it is sometimes helpful to take a look at the different types of therapies (or the millions of abbreviations you'll see floating around, to try and understand what you might benefit most from.

To put it simply, there are generally (very generally) two theoretical orientations (aka approaches based on scientific theory) that most therapists operate from. These are psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Psychodynamic therapy generally focuses on creating a strong therapeutic alliance and generating insight about one’s issues by analyzing a number of things like early childhood relationships and defense mechanisms.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (which is an umbrella term) focuses on examining the relationships between one’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions. CBT focuses on increasing one’s awareness for these facets of our lives, and learning skills, coping strategies and techniques to intervene in any of these areas.

In general, there is more research to support the use of cognitive behavioral therapies, but this is by no means a guarantee that it will “work” for you. Both schools of thought focus on creating a warm, supportive relationship between client and therapist, but the work done in therapy can look very different.

Using treatments that have been tried and tested gives patients the best shot at their best possible outcome. Here are three unique types of therapy that all fall under the umbrella term of cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT and/or evidence based treatments.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT focuses on accepting emotional experiences at they are, as well as committing to making behavioral changes that can improve upon symptoms, and one’s life in general. This treatment focuses on psychological flexibility, being present in the moment, and behaving in a way that is consistent with your values. ACT focuses on the idea that difficult emotions are inevitable, but that action to improve our lives is also possible.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT focuses on acceptance and change has four broad areas which include mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. DBT aims to help individuals manage difficult emotions and emotional suffering, while also doing what we can to change the occurrence of these emotions, and how we respond to them.

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

EFT focuses on one’s emotional experience, and increases the awareness that emotions are important as they provide us information about our environment. EFT aims to help us understand the patterns in our emotions, and how we can listen to them, and act according to them, in healthy and safe ways.

Finding a therapist and therapeutic approach that works well for you is an intimate and challenging task, but there are ways to simplify it so it is less overwhelming. Ask what orientation they operate from, ask what kind of therapy they think you would benefit from, and don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself. Everyone has the right to treatment that they find effective, so don’t be afraid to look for it.