Psychological Services
Here is a list of most of the therapies we apply in our practice. When developing a treatment plan for you we select the most appropriate therapy to meet your needs.
Schema focused therapy or schema therapy aims to meet core emotional needs of individuals. This approach is helpful for addressing problems which originate from childhood. Schema therapy is about assisting individuals to understand life-long patterns that feel harmful in order to bring about life-long change and happiness.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) relies on evidence-based practice to generate knowledge in relation to a wide range of psychological problems that people might experience. This approach encourages a collaborative relationship between the individual and therapist where both are able to speak openly about the desired goals of the therapy and the nature of the issue.
Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) aims to help the client to develop skills to manage their relationship difficulties by making sense of how they might act in relationships.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a cognitive behavioural treatment is used to support clients who suffer from substance, borderline personality disorder (BPD), depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) combines cognitive behavioural techniques with mindfulness strategies in order to help individuals better understand and manage their thoughts and emotions in order to achieve relief from feelings of distress.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a psychological therapy that teaches mindfulness (being in the moment) and acceptance (openness, willingness to sustain contact) skills for responding to uncontrollable experiences and thereby increased enactment of personal values.
Behavioural activation is a therapeutic intervention that is often used to treat depression. Behavioral activation stems from a behavioral model of depression that conceptualises depression as a consequence of a lack of positive reinforcement. BA is highly customisable and is a very personal treatment plan.
Exposure therapy (ET) is a technique in behaviour therapy intended to treat anxiety disorders. ET may be effective in preventing the progression from acute stress disorder to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) called cognitive enhancement therapy (CET), is a cognitive rehabilitation therapy developed at King’s College in London designed to improve neurocognitive abilities such as attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility and planning, and executive functioning which leads to improved social functioning.
In patients with schizophrenia, atypical antipsychotic medications have increased the effectiveness of symptom management, but patients may remain socially or cognitively disabled. CET is recommended for patients with schizophrenia who are stable with low risk of relapse.
Also people with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa are considered to be cognitively inflexible with their perspectives of food.[4] In London, CRT was beneficial in the treatment of adults with anorexia nervosa, and in Poland among adolescents with anorexia nervosa.[9] In the United States clinical trials are still being conducted by Stanford University in subjects over 16 as a conjunctive therapy with family based treatment.
CRT has also been shown to be useful in both children and adults with ADHD, as well as for cognitive deficits associated with major depressive disorder CRT has also been used in a subset of pediatric cancer survivors who experienced cognitive impairment due to the effects of cancer or cancer treatment on cognitive functioning. Clinical trials are slated to begin in 2010 in the United States by the National Institute of Health and the National Institute of Drug Abuse on the efficacy of cognitive remediation upon the cognitive deficits associated with drug abuse.
Autogenic training is a relaxation technique that involves short sessions where the practitioner repeats a set of visualisations that induce a state of calm. The technique can be used to alleviate many stress-induced psychosomatic disorders.
EMDR therapy is recognised as an effective form of trauma treatment in numerous practice guidelines worldwide. In the US, this includes organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association and Department of Defence. More than twenty randomized studies support the effectiveness of the therapy in the treatment of PTSD. Further, more than twenty randomized studies have demonstrated positive effects of the eye movements.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a structured therapy that encourages the patient to briefly focus on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories.
EMDR psychotherapy is an information processing therapy and uses an eight-phase approach to address the experiential contributors of a wide range of pathologies. It attends to the past experiences that have set the groundwork for pathology, the current situations that trigger dysfunctional emotions, beliefs and sensations, and the positive experience needed to enhance future adaptive behaviours and mental health.
