Perhaps the idea of starting therapy has been playing on your mind and after a period of deliberation, you’ve decided to go ahead with it. Once you begin your search you may become overwhelmed with how many therapies are available out there.

Although challenging to concisely describe each type of therapy we offer at the Sloane Court Clinic, you will find the links to more detailed information on each below with a brief overview. If you are self-referring (or just curious) you may find the rest of this Thought Piece useful to read.

Written by Nadine Seif BSc, Assistant Psychologist, Sloane Court Clinic

Dr Farha Choudhary, Clinical Psychologist at SCC, recommends starting with this series of questions. She says “it might be worth thinking about what you need right now? What is troubling or distressing you? What area of your life or situation do you want to work on or work through? What type of therapy might suit you? One where you can talk and think about what’s happening? One that helps you work through past hurts that still affect you? One that helps you learn skills to manage now?” The aim is that answering these questions will aid in any decision making.

Psychological interventions are usually focused on different areas of need and styles of relating. No two people can or will experience the world in exactly the same way and as such, the therapy that suits you will be based on your individual needs.

Some therapies have a strong evidence base for supporting people to overcome their difficulties. These can be found in the National Treatment guidance provided by the National Institute for Clinical and Care Excellence (NICE). To get the best treatment, it is important to identify the underlying difficulties that might be affecting you. Sometimes this might lead to a diagnosis and psychiatrists, and psychologists, are trained to assess and develop effective treatment plans to help you overcome any current problems.

The choice in approach might be down to personal preference. Sometimes it is the very act of attending therapy that alleviates symptoms. There tends to be a lot of overlap between approaches and research has continually shown that it the relationship between client and therapist is a highly significant predictor of a positive outcome. Although choosing the right type of therapy for you can be beneficial, it is not the only factor to consider when starting your therapeutic journey.

To help you to narrow your choices down, we usually recommend our new patients see one of our psychiatrists for an assessment prior to seeking therapy. This is because they are often able to use the information gathered to advise on what might be the best therapeutic approach for you, if needed, and furthermore someone who you will relate to well. If your GP has referred you directly to our psychological team, perhaps they might be able to recommend an approach for you to explore.

Although challenging to concisely describe each type of therapy we offer at the Sloane Court Clinic, you will find the links to more detailed information on each below with a brief overview. If you are self-referring (or just curious) you may find the rest of this Thought Piece useful to read.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

• This is the NICE recommended therapy for anxiety disorders and depression and is also commonly used to treat OCD and PTSD as well. CBT works to identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts or thinking patterns and places them in the context of behaviours to allow for positive change. If you are looking for a shorter term (approx.12-18 sessions), highly collaborative and structured therapy this may suit you well.

Cognitive-analytic Therapy (CAT)

• CAT is another shorter-term therapy that is often used in conjunction with others. Its main focus is to gain an understanding of self-limiting cognitive patterns that result in the presenting problem and eventually, adapting them. This therapy is best suited to those who want to work on their relationships with others as it promotes increased self-awareness.

Compassion focussed Therapy (CFT)

• CFT targets self-criticism and/or high shame that may contribute to chronic or longstanding problems such as anxiety and depression. Usually used alongside other therapies too, it works by teaching effective self-soothing and instilling compassion for oneself. This can be particularly helpful if you have experienced trauma or have a tendency to be self-critical.

Dialectical-behaviour Therapy

• DBT combines elements of CBT and mindfulness to teach skills to cope with heightened emotional states and is effective in reducing the incidence of self-damaging behaviours. Although originally designed for people with Borderline Personality Disorder, DBT and elements of it like Skills Training, has been shown to be effective in reducing behaviours like self-harm, suicidality, overwhelming feelings, uncomfortable swings of emotion, mood and maladaptive compensatory behaviour and other impulsive behaviours, among wider populations.

Schema Therapy

• Schema Therapy aims to identify the patterns of viewing the world that developed in childhood and adapt any that are unhelpful to eventually meet your emotional needs. It looks at units of character/personality or schemas, typically but not always developing in childhood that are maladaptive and associated with unhelpful modes of adult functioning. It is very clear, logical and almost always provides extremely helpful insights through the quick production of a personality formulation. Sessions are collaborative and can involve role playing and guided imagery. This tends to be a longer-term therapy and may suit those whose difficulties have persisted for a long time or who are interested in looking into their childhood experiences in therapy.

Brief Psychodynamic Therapy

• This therapy aims to identify and resolve a person’s unconscious psychological defences within 10-20 sessions. Usually this is geared towards people whose feelings have been supressed that are now resulting in their presenting difficulties. In addition to being helpful in treating depression, anxiety, OCD, relationships difficulties and it has been effectively used in people suffering psychological symptoms from physical health concerns.

Existential Therapy

• This is a philosophical form of therapy that looks at emotional and psychological turmoil in relation to the idea of existence itself. Existential therapy aims to use insight gained from previous experiences to resolve inner conflict with the givens of existence and encourages celebrating your capabilities and successes. If you are interested in looking at the here and now from a philosophical viewpoint, this might be a good approach for you.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)

• This therapy was originally developed to treat PTSD, but is now used for a wide range of disorders. It uses bilateral brain stimulation to “reprogram” memories from disturbing experiences and connect them to helpful, more adaptive information stored in the brain. The ultimate goal is emotional healing from an adverse experience and EMDR has been shown to be very effective in doing so.

Person-Centred therapy (Humanistic Therapy)

• This therapy focuses on understanding a person’s own needs and wishes. The idea is to provide thinking spaces so that the person can reconnect to their own capacities that they may have become a detached from. This approach tends to suit people who want to increase their self-esteem and would like their therapist to adopt a more facilitative approach. than a directive role.

Family and Couples Therapy

• This therapy involves more than one client, in most cases, and focuses on how difficulties in the family dynamics have emerged, why they persist and eventually how to make positive changes. This can be useful for any relationships in a family setting, whether these are for couples, parents and children or anyone else.

Integrative Therapy

• Integrative therapy draws on aspects of many different therapeutic approaches based on the individual’s preferences, needs, motivation levels and personality to create a tailor-made approach to their presenting difficulty. This means that elements from a range of the therapies listed above will be hand-picked by your psychologist to make up your treatment plan.

Medical Psychotherapy (also termed Psychiatric Psychotherapy) refers to any talking therapy from the list above that is delivered by a medical doctor. This will most commonly be a psychiatrist. This can be beneficial for people who would like one person to deliver the relevant therapy as well as prescribing and monitoring your medication. It may be relevant to note that Medical Psychotherapists tend to charge psychiatry fees which can be higher than the average psychologists’ fees so this may be a factor to consider.

All our psychologists are highly skilled and qualified and will aim to support you to develop better ways of coping and responding so that you feel more able to face challenges, pitfalls and barriers that may emerge and/or remerge in your life. Seeking therapy is a great start to attending to your mental health so don’t let the abundance of choices deter you!

If you’d like to discuss starting your own mental health work with one or more of the treatment approaches above, do contact our Patient Services Team.