At Layla, our mission is to guide our clients to take better control of their mental health. In this article, we discuss the different types of therapy offered at Layla and what to expect from treatment.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - ACT
What is it?
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an approach to psychotherapy that blends techniques from both traditional behavior therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy. In an ACT framework, clients learn to be more aware of their tendencies to avoid, deny, and struggle against their emotions and learn to accept that these feelings are typical responses to certain situations - and that they can move forward in their lives despite these feelings. Clients work toward practicing acceptance of their emotional experiences and commit to making necessary changes in their choices and their behaviors. ACT can be used to support individuals with a wide range of difficulties, including anxiety, depression, trauma, eating disorders, interpersonal difficulties and medical conditions such as chronic pain.
What to expect?
In an ACT framework, clients learn to approach and accept the thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and memories they have been avoiding - with the understanding that avoiding these ultimately leads to feeling worse. Rather than encouraging clients to change the way they think, an ACT therapist helps clients to practice mindfulness, learn to accept what they are experiencing, clarify their personal values and commit to choosing behaviours in line with their values. Unlike some other types of psychotherapy, the specific goal of ACT is not to reduce psychological symptoms but rather to increase awareness and foster acceptance - although relief from psychological symptoms is often an outcome in ACT.
Learn more about ACT here
Cognitive behavioural Therapy - CBT
What is it?
CBT is a type of therapy that helps a person become aware of inaccurate or negative patterns of thoughts and/or behaviours so they can view challenging situations more clearly and respond to them in a more effective way. This type of therapy is about the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behaviours with the understanding that each affects the others. Given that emotions are hard to shift in and of themselves, we work to change thoughts and behaviours in order to shift challenging emotions.
CBT can be applied to a wide range of mental health conditions including but not limited to depression, anxiety disorders, stress disorders, and eating disorders.
What to expect?
The main focus of CBT could be on changing thoughts, behaviours, or both depending on the person and the presenting issue(s). During the first visit the client and the CBT therapist will discuss how the therapist will apply the CBT model to their specific issue, and depending upon their specific challenges and needs, CBT sessions can last anywhere from 5 to 20 weeks, with each session lasting 50 minutes.
In CBT, the therapist generally takes a goal-oriented approach and will support the client in building their awareness of their thoughts, emotions, and beliefs around their presenting concern(s). CBT can also be used in combination with other therapeutic approaches and/or done in a group format.
Learn more about CBT here
Dialectical behavioural Therapy - DBT
What is it?
DBT is a type of psychotherapy derived from CBT and can be completed in an individual or group setting. The term “dialectical” means synthesis of opposites, a concept from the Zen tradition. The most important dialectic in DBT is the balance of acceptance and change. In DBT, the client and therapist work to resolve the apparent contradiction between self-acceptance and change to bring about positive changes in the individual during treatment. DBT can help people who have difficulty with emotional regulation and/or engaging in high-risk behaviors such as disordered eating, substance use, suicidality and self-harm.
Individualized DBT sessions and DBT groups are both skills based and a combination of the two formats may be helpful depending on your needs. The added benefit of a DBT group is the interpersonal environment where mutual learning takes place. Within the group setting, individuals can learn tools and tricks that have worked for others with similar lived experiences as well as to work on their own goals in a setting where they feel empowered and motivated by peers.
What to expect?
The focus of DBT is on learning to better balance change and acceptance, building behavioural skills and utilizing them effectively in the moment. Clients will be taught two seemingly opposite strategies: acceptance and change through developing core skills including:
Mindfulness: focuses on improving the ability to accept and be present within the moment.
Distress tolerance: geared towards increasing the tolerance for negative emotion, rather than trying to escape it.
Interpersonal effectiveness: techniques that allow a person to communicate, interact and work effectively with others.
Emotion regulation skills: managing intense emotions.
This practice will help a person pay attention to what is happening inside of them (feelings, thoughts, impulses) and use their senses to tune in to what is happening around them in a non-judgmental fashion. In a group setting, you will learn to listen empathetically to others, and create space for them to share their story with you in a warm environment.
Learn more about DBT here
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing - EMDR
What is it?
EMDR is an interactive psychotherapy technique that uses elements of therapeutic approaches in combination with bilateral sensory stimulation i.e., - eye movements, tapping or sounds to activate the brain’s natural ability to process negative memories, core beliefs and psychological symptomatology. The intention of EMDR is to help people process traumatic events and to decrease emotional distress.
What to expect?
Firstly, in EMDR treatment, the therapist will start by establishing a supportive and trusting relationship. You may also learn some new skills to cope with uncomfortable feelings that EMDR may bring up. The next phases of EMDR will most likely take multiple sessions. You’ll select a traumatic memory to reprocess, a memory that causes you great discomfort and triggers PTSD symptoms. While you imagine a traumatic scene from the event, your therapist will guide you to focus on the thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations that come up. At the same time, you will be asked to move your eyes back and forth, left to right rapidly, like in REM sleep. Your therapist might use their hand, a light bar that pulses back and forth, or audible taps to your left and right. This movement helps emotions related to the trauma to arise, and the therapist may have you stop the eye movements to talk about your perception of these emotions, to help you process them. Over time and possibly several repeated sessions, your emotions connected to these memories should lower in intensity, until they no longer cause tremendous pain. At that point, your therapist will help you to replace the associated negative thoughts and emotions with healthier thoughts and positive associations. For example, someone who was sexually assaulted may shift from feeling shame and helplessness to feeling empowered and strong.
Learn more about EMDR here
Emotion Focused Therapy
What is it?
EFT is a type of therapy used to improve attachment and bonding in adult relationships. It’s based on methods designed to help people accept, express, regulate, make sense of, and transform emotions in healthy ways to relieve distress, communicate effectively, connect with others, and overcome challenges in life. EFT is often used in couples therapy but can also be used to treat individual concerns (EFIT - Emotionally focused individual therapy) and family relationships (EFFT - Emotionally focused family therapy).
What to expect?
Emotion focused therapists will help clients manage and make sense of their emotions to use them as a guide to meet important needs and goals, including connecting with others in a healthy manner. Through EFT, people may come to see their emotions as valuable sources of information instead of painful or difficult states. They may learn to experience, rather than suppress, these emotions.
Mindfulness-based Therapy
What is it?
Mindfulness is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on increasing the awareness and presence with an attitude of compassion. It can help us identify thoughts, feelings, and actions that hinder our progress, without placing any judgments upon them. When we are better able to do that, we can engage with challenging aspects of ourselves or our experiences with more acceptance and thus less distress.
What to expect?
Mindfulness-based approaches are most commonly delivered through the practice of mindfulness meditation. During mindfulness meditation, the practitioner will typically guide the client to direct their focus on the present moment. If the participants become aware that their thoughts are drifting away from the present, they are encouraged to take notice of where they are and what they are doing before bringing their attention back to the present moment, without reacting or judging themselves. Therapists can help those in treatment bring the practice and also attitudes of mindfulness into their day to day life to feel more present, balanced, and able to manage challenging emotions and situations.
Psychodynamic Therapy
What is it?
Psychodynamic therapy is an in-depth form of talk therapy, designed to help patients explore the full range of their emotions, including feelings they may not be aware of, as they are manifested in their present behavior. Psychodynamic therapy helps people understand how their behavior and mood are affected by unresolved issues and unconscious feelings by making the unconscious elements of their life a part of their present experience. Recognizing recurring patterns can help people see how they avoid distress or develop defense mechanisms to cope. This insight may allow them to begin changing those patterns.
What to expect?
The client will be encouraged to talk about the emotions they are feeling to help them identify recurring patterns in their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to gain a better understanding of the way they think and feel. Psychodynamic therapy is available to individuals, couples, families, or groups. It can be used as short-term or long-term therapy. Brief psychodynamic therapy is goal-oriented and can take as many as 25 sessions. Long-term psychodynamic therapy may take two years or more.
Solutions-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
What is it?
SFBT is a form of therapy that focuses on the strengths and skills a person has, to construct solutions rather than focusing on problems. In the most basic sense, SFBT helps alleviate stress and brings awareness to the person's strengths and internal resources. It is a future-oriented plan for formulating, motivating, achieving, and sustaining desired behavioural changes to help a person reach future goals.
What to expect?
Therapists begin the first session with goal development questions to gain an understanding of the client's strengths. The priority will be for the client to state the problem for which they seek help. Then the client will be encouraged to describe an ideal vision of their future in which the problem doesn't exist and that will be the baseline for a step-by-step method to transfer the client from their current situation to a better one. The practitioner will also bring awareness to the strengths that the client does have, to shift their focus to a more solution oriented, positive outlook, rather than ruminating on the problem. Sessions usually last 50 minutes, once per week, for around 6 - 12 weeks, with the option of one-off standalone sessions.
Narrative Therapy
What is it?
Narrative therapy is a therapy method that focuses on the stories people develop and carry through their lives as they seek to adjust them. Our personal stories shape our identity and Narrative Therapy uses the power of these stories to help people focus more on their strengths. It encourages people to rely on their own skills to separate themselves from their problems.
What to expect?
Narrative therapists focus on the way that people think about and communicate their life stories. They help people “thicken” or “thin” narratives by filling in details that can help people see challenges, strengths, alternatives, and supports that they may not have recognized before.
Learn more about Narrative Therapy here
Somatic Therapy
What is it?
Somatic Therapy is a type of therapy that uses mind-body exercises and other physical techniques to help release the tension that is negatively affecting a person’s physical and emotional health. Therapists who practice Somatic therapy believe that past trauma and other psychological concerns may potentially have a negative effect on a person’s autonomic nervous system and prevent them from processing the experience. People experiencing emotional and psychological issues may also be affected by physical concerns such as tension in specific parts of the body like the head, neck, shoulders, or stomach.
What to expect?
A somatic therapist can use a few different techniques to help release trauma or negative emotions from the body such as Body awareness, Grounding, Pendulation, Titration, Sequencing, and Resourcing. Somatic Therapy combines talk therapy with physical therapy. The sessions involve the introduction of small amounts of traumatic material and the observation of a client’s physical responses to that material, such as shallow breathing or shift in posture. The practitioner will help the client find a safe space to process their unresolved emotions. Experiencing the sensations related to the traumatic event in a safe way allows a person to fully process the trauma. Clients also achieve heightened awareness of their physical responses to stress, and this skill can serve them in everyday life.
With so many different types of therapy out there, it’s important to understand the frameworks and lean on the guidance from your therapist. Selecting a type of therapy that is aligned with how you like to structure and achieve your goals is important, to ensure that you can get the most out of each session. Additionally, more than one approach may be what works for you. Many Layla therapists offer a dynamic approach and use different treatment models together to support clients.
- Facing mental health challenges? Layla is here to help - Individuals, couples, and families use Layla for personalized, convenient therapy. Layla matches you to a suitable therapist and manage the therapy process in a warm, dependable manner, supporting you on your journey to better health. Learn more here
- New to therapy? Here's your beginner guide - Starting therapy can evoke feelings of vulnerability, but knowing what to expect can help. The journey is individualized, with no exact right or wrong way. During the first session, typically administrative matters are discussed, goals are set, and you and your therapist will get to know each other. Fit between you and you therapist is very important for your outcomes, and it's okay to switch if the fit isn't right. Therapy is adjusted to your timeline and constraints, and can range from weekly to monthly sessions. Reflecting on what you wish to accomplish can guide the process.
Disclaimer: The content on this blog is for informational purposes only and should not be considered healthcare or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Consult with a healthcare professional for appropriate support.
