Provider of Evidence-Based
Videotherapy Services
TREATMENT APPROACHES
EMOTION FOCUSED THERAPY
Emotion Focused Therapy is an Evidence Based, collaborative and empathically responsive approach in which emotional experiences are used as signals in need to be accessed, understood, used and processed in a healthy way in order to derive new meaning and growth opportunities, reduce emotional distress, overcome difficulties, and increase interpersonal connections. It can often be very helpful when dealing with cycles of unwanted negative and maladaptive emotional challenges, such as depression, traumatic response, anxiety, shame, couple conflict, interpersonal problems, unresolved emotions towards significant others in our past or current lives, grief and helplessness. An Emotion Focused Therapist seeks to understand with the client how their learned early and current experiences with situations of abuse, trauma, neglect, or invalidation results in intense emotional experiences and guides them through the process of healthy emotional processing and response to achieve an emotional understanding of their needs and goals and increase their resilience to future adversities.
DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOR THERAPY
Dialectical Behavior Therapy is an Evidence Based approach used at the clinic with individuals who struggle with trauma-related symptoms. When trauma is present, DBT skills can assist in allowing for trauma to be approached, processed, and addressed by reducing avoidance (e.g., emotional) that maintains trauma symptoms. DBT offers the following techniques and skills:
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Mindfulness: Learning to increase awareness of emotions and thoughts in the present moment by observing cues and triggers without judgment.
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Distress Tolerance: Learning to use mindfulness skills to identify and name emotions in stressful situations (e.g., actual, and perceived). More importantly, learning skills to tolerate stress and distress to prevent making stressful situations worse in response to continued heightened emotions.
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Emotional regulation: Learning how not to be overcome by emotions (which leads to avoidance). Instead, learning strategies to effectively manage emotions and to have self-compassion for emotions.
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Interpersonal effectiveness: Learning skills building on those above to approach conflict differently.
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Exposure and response prevention: Learning to approach demanding situations without being overcome. Instead, learning how to remain in difficult situations in an adaptive way.
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Opposite action: Learning to recognize the emotionally based “action urges” experiences (e.g., to withdraw, avoid) and learning to intentionally plan to react differently.
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Validation: Benefiting from validation and normalization of emotions in response to stressful situations and triggers. Learning to approach instead of dismissing trauma experiences. Validation can play an important role in the healing process.
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Chain Analysis: Learning the skill of problem-solving interventions when dysregulated using chain analysis.
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an Evidence Based approach that involves looking at emotional experiences and responses within a five factor model, which includes a situation, your feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and physical responses. Intervention points focus on the later three components to effect change (e.g., looking at the way you are thinking, altering behaviors or using techniques to reduce the physical symptoms). Unlike other therapies which can take years, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is briefer and time-limited and focuses on the collaborative and Socratic approach between the therapist and client to address the difficulties at hand. Learned patterns of behaviors, thoughts and physical reactions are addressed during sessions and practiced between sessions to achieve the goals outlined.