Traditional Therapies
Cognitive Behavioural (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioural therapy stresses the role of thinking in how we feel and what we do. It is based on the belief that thoughts, rather than people or events, cause our negative feelings. The therapist assists the client in identifying, testing the reality of, and correcting dysfunctional beliefs underlying his or her thinking. The therapist then helps the client modify those thoughts and the behaviours that flow from them. CBT is a structured collaboration between therapist and client and often calls for homework assignments. CBT has been clinically proven to help clients in a relatively short amount of time with a wide range of disorders, including depression and anxiety.
Psychoanalytic
Psychoanalysis is an in-depth form of therapy. The client learns what conscious and unconscious wishes drive their patterns of thinking and behavior on the theory that, by making the unconscious conscious, they will make more educated choices over how they think and act. Traditional psychoanalysts may treat clients intensively but reveal little of their own views or feelings during therapy. Modern psychoanalysts may treat less frequently and take a more interactive approach.
Psychodynamic
Psychodynamic therapy, also known as insight-oriented therapy, evolved from Freudian psychoanalysis. Like adherents of psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapists believe that bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness promotes insight and resolves conflict. But psychodynamic therapy is briefer and less intensive than psychoanalysis and also focuses on the relationship between the therapist and the client, as a way to learn about how the client relates to everyone in their life.