In this blog post, we’ll explore the different types of talking therapy currently available.
“One adult in eight (12.1%) receives mental health treatment, with 10.4% receiving medication and 3% receiving psychological therapy.”
Not one box fits all, and therapy must be adapted to each mental health condition or issue. Additionally, the needs of the individual must be considered when approaching talking therapy.
We will also investigate how you can access the types of talking therapy.
What is talking therapy?
According to the NHS, “Talking therapies are psychological treatments for mental and emotional problems like stress, anxiety and depression.”
Several types of talking therapy exist, and they all have one thing in common – working with a trained therapist.
They can be performed on a one-to-one basis, in a group setting, online or via telephone. You can also partake in talking therapy alone, with your partner or with family.
The therapist assigned to you will work with you to understand your issues and help you with ways to cope.
The type of talking therapy that you will undertake will depend on your specific mental health issue and will also depend on you, and what works for you.
The main aims of talking therapy are:
- to give you a safe time and place to talk to someone without judgement
- to help you make sense of your feelings and to help you understand yourself better
- to help you resolve complex feelings and find different ways to cope with them
- to help you understand patterns in the way you think or act, and find ways to change them if needed
What can talking therapy help with?
There are many problems, and mental health issues, that talking therapy can help with.
- Difficult life events – this can be anything from losing a loved one to losing your job.
- Relationship problems – this can be a way for you, and your partner, to work through your issues.
- Traumatic experiences – this can be a recent event or a past event in your life.
- Complex emotions – these are usually feelings of grief, guilt, sadness, confusion, anger and low self-esteem.
- Depression, stress and anxiety – this is relating any current mental health problems that you may be dealing with.
- Long-term physical health problems.
Types of talking therapy
The below are common types of talking therapy, alongside what they mean.
- Behavioural – this looks to explore the way you act.
- Cognitive – this looks to explore your thoughts and the way you think, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an example of this.
- Dialectical – this looks to explore opposite positions and how they may exist together, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is an example of this.
- Humanistic – this will take a look at you as a whole and usually includes mind, body, spirit and soul.
- Mindfulness-based – this will involve you becoming aware of your current thought processes and feelings and eventually accepting them. It can also include mindfulness techniques like meditation and breathing exercises.
- Person-centred – this looks at using your strengths and experiences to encourage personal growth and improve your relationships.
- Psychoanalytic, or analytic – this looks at your unconscious, deep-rooted thoughts. These thoughts more often than not, come from your childhood.
- Psychodynamic, or dynamic – this looks to explore how your unconscious thoughts may affect how you act.
- Solution-focused – this will focus on what you want to achieve in the future rather than exploring past experiences.
How to access talking therapy
You can access talking therapies for free through the NHS.
You will have the option to refer yourself directly to an NHS talking therapy service without a referral from a GP, or a GP can also refer you.
The NHS advises that the below is what will happen once you have referred yourself:
- Someone from the service will get in touch, usually within a few weeks.
- They’ll ask for more details about the problems you’re having. This is known as an assessment.
- If the service thinks they can help you, they’ll recommend a therapy for you. This is based on your symptoms and how severe they are.
- Waiting times for the first session vary. The service will tell you what to expect.
In some organisations, employers provide free counselling for their employees so it’s always worth speaking to your HR department if you are struggling. The majority of colleges and universities also offer free counselling to students who need it and some charities offer helplines, cheap or free talking therapies or group support.
You can also choose to have talking therapy privately, this is slightly different as you will have to pay for the service. Mind offers a list of useful contacts here.
Thank you for reading!
We hope you found this article useful.
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References:
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/types-of-talking-therapies/
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/talking-therapy-and-counselling/about-talking-therapies/
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez Unsplash.
