Types of Therapy

At Psychotherapy & Movement, we offer various types of psychotherapy, the most common of which are described below.

System therapy is indicated in some cases. System therapy is based on the premise that the client’s problems affect their interpersonal environment, such as their relatives, family, partner, work and friends. It also works on the basis that people in the client’s environment can play a significant role in helping clients recover from or reduce their psychological problems, and with their social rehabilitation.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a combination of two types of psychotherapy: cognitive therapy and behavioural therapy. With cognitive behavioural therapy, the behaviour and thoughts that perpetuate the client’s problems are discussed and treated. Scientific research has shown that CBT is an effective treatment for many psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, addiction and eating disorders.

• Behavioural therapy focuses mainly on changing your behaviour, because your conduct determines, to a large extent, how you feel. If, as a result of anxiety, you tend to avoid certain situations, the tension you feel is more likely to increase than to decrease. During behavioural therapy treatments, your therapist will first assess any problematic behaviour and discuss with you the circumstances under which this behaviour occurs. The therapist will then help you to respond to those circumstances with a more suitable pattern of behaviour.
• Cognitive therapy deals with your way of thinking and the accompanying emotions. People who approach issues and events in their lives from a negative aspect are more likely to become anxious, melancholy or irritated. In cognitive therapy, you and your therapist examine whether or not the way you think is entirely correct. If it appears that you tend to judge things negatively, you and your therapist will search together for a more suitable way of thinking. In order to develop more realistic attitudes and thoughts, the therapist makes use of specific exercises and homework assignments, with greater emphasis on the future than the past.

Source: www.vgct.nl

Schema therapy is a type of psychotherapy for people with severe psychological problems such as personality disorders or frequently recurring depressive symptoms. Schema therapy helps you to establish the cause of your behavioural patterns and to change these. It examines the influence of childhood experiences on these patterns and teaches you to change them so that you feel better and are better able to take care of and stand up for yourself. You also learn to identify your needs and fulfil them in a healthier way. This helps you to change not only your behaviour, but also your thoughts and feelings.

Source: www.schematherapie.nl

Traumatic events can have a great impact on the way we function. Our brains are able to process most traumatic events. However, depending on the type of psychological trauma and individual vulnerability, the brain is sometimes no longer able to process a traumatic experience. Psychological symptoms may then occur, such as flashbacks of the trauma, avoidance of everything associated with the trauma, and increased irritability. These symptoms are indicative of a trauma-related psychological disorder, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (symptoms present > 1 month) or acute stress disorder (symptoms present < 1 month). Psychotherapy is usually required in order to achieve a reduction in these symptoms.

Psychotherapy & Movement offers the following treatments for trauma-related disorders:

• Imaginaire exposure is a type of cognitive behavioural therapy that is used in trauma counselling and the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. It involves you working with a therapist in order to change the way you deal with distressing memories. During imaginal exposure, the therapist will encourage you to relive distressing memories of the traumatic experience by talking about them in detail over a period of several therapy sessions. You will be supported throughout by the therapist, and in a safe environment. Breaking the cycle of avoidance reduces the impact of the distressing event, in turn reducing your psychological symptoms.The therapist may also ask for your permission to record you talking about your memories so that you can listen again at home, which will reinforce the effect of the treatment.  
• Imagery rescripting is an experience-oriented treatment method used in particular if there is any question of multiple psychological trauma in early or later childhood. The main aim of imaginal exposure with rescripting is to help you process distressing experiences and memories. During the treatment you will be asked to recall unwanted memories and to change them. One of the ways this is done is by recalling a memory from different perspectives, such as your perspective as a child and as an adult. This gives you the opportunity to experience feelings, express emotions, and, from your ‘healthy’ adult perspective, to intervene in situations in which you were wrongly treated as a child. Changing the meaning of a distressing memory can help reduce psychological problems. Imaginal exposure with rescripting is also a powerful method with which to bring about a shift in unrealistic, unhelpful views and convictions.
• EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, abbreviated as EMDR, is used for people with one or multiple PTSD symptoms and anxiety symptoms (often trauma-related). EMDR is a highly effective treatment method, particularly for people suffering from recurrent distressing memories and nightmares, and good results can often be achieved in a short space of time. During EMDR, the therapist will ask you to think back to the event and the images, thoughts and feelings associated with it. Initially, this is done to gather further information about the traumatic experience before trauma processing can begin. The therapist will then ask you to imagine the traumatic event again, but this time in combination with a distracting stimulus. The emotions associated with the traumatic event will be less overwhelming. This reduces the intensity of the event and in turn the trauma-related problems.

Source: www.emdr.nl