What Therapy is Best for Me?
Finding a therapist and starting the therapy process can feel overwhelming. Once you choose to begin therapy, you might think about what kind of therapy you might benefit from and begin looking for a therapist who practices it. Working with a therapist who uses the appropriate therapy intervention for your needs is essential for a meaningful, successful treatment. If you have searched for a therapist on popular search engines, such as Psychology Today, you might have felt overwhelmed by how many different “Types of Therapy” there are to choose from. Let’s talk about how to navigate it!
When evaluating what type of therapy you might benefit from, start with the therapeutic basics. Ask yourself, “How do I respond to my therapeutic moments?” Further, consider how many boxes you might check for yourself on this checklist:
- I struggle to identify my emotions
- I use substances to cope with strong emotions
- I make decisions based on emotions or impulses; the decisions may be harmful to myself or others
- I lash out angrily or aggressively onto those around me
- I shut down when I feel emotions and don’t know how to respond
- I get stuck in my overly negative thoughts and don’t know what to do about them
- I want to learn how to initiate and maintain healthy, positive relationships
If you checked multiple of the above boxes, skills-focused therapies might be helpful for you. Therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) [to name a few] will teach you practical skills and therapeutic interventions to manage your emotions, thoughts, actions, and relationships. They will help you increase your awareness of your emotional experiences and adapt your responses to feel more effective. These therapies can be great at building your toolbox with tools to calm down the intensity of your emotions, notice and disrupt challenging thought cycles, improve your relationships with others, and feel more in control of your present and future outcomes.
If you read through those check list items and thought that you don’t really relate, perhaps an experiential or integrative approach to therapy is better for you. Experiential therapy models are approaches that help you dig a bit deeper when focusing on emotions, memories, and sensations in the present moment. Consider how many boxes you might check for yourself on this checklist:
- I want to understand the influence my childhood experiences have on my present circumstances
- I can recognize my emotions and I want to explore them further to build my own self-insight
- I want to explore unresolved emotional experiences
- I have trauma memories or difficult past relationships that often resurface or feel unresolved
- I want an open-ended approach where I focus on self-understanding instead of skill-building or behavior change
If you checked some of the above boxes, experiential therapies might be beneficial for you. An experiential approach in therapy might have you explore emotional wounds from your past, understand their influence in the present, and use a variety of techniques to assist you with integrating and healing those experiences. Experiential therapies include Internal Family Systems (IFS), Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT), Art Therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) [to name a few]. These models emphasize the importance of your subjective experiences to help you make meaning of your past in the present and rely on your free will to bring you self-directive and transformative growth.
If you still feel confused or conflicted on what type of therapy you desire, you can click multiple therapy types in the search engine and find clinicians who have multiple specialties. When reading through therapy profiles and ultimately selecting a therapist who might be a good provider to work with you, remember that the American Psychological Association contributes up to 30% of a client’s success in therapy to the strength of the therapeutic alliance. That alliance is a collaborative relationship between the therapist and client rooted in trust, understanding, a nonjudgmental attitude, flexibility, compassion, acceptance, respect, support, and clarity in the therapy process. If you feel like you are missing out on any aspects of the therapeutic alliance throughout your treatment, it is worth talking about it with your therapist. If the alliance cannot be built, it may be worth trying out a new therapy provider. Therapists are not one-size-fits-all for every client so be sure to emphasize the importance of finding a provider who you feel comfortable and happy working with.
When matched with a therapist who can connect with you relationally and provide you with relevant, effective interventions for your needs, the likelihood of positive therapeutic outcomes increases significantly.