Sankofa Wellness

What are the different types of psychotherapy?

There are hundreds of different forms of psychotherapy. But let's tell you about some of the more well-known ones...

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) was developed by Aaron Beck. CBT says that unhelpful ways of thinking and learned patterns of unhelpful behaviour lead to psychological problems. CBT usually involves learning problem-solving skills, changing thinking patterns, identifying cognitive distortions that are creating problems, and then re-evaluating them in the light of reality.

CBT is great for people who have a habit of automatically believing what their mind tells them and people who have a hard time thinking flexibly. To learn more about CBT, click here or here.

Emotion Focused Therapy and Emotionally focused therapy

Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT¹) was developed by Leslie Greenberg. EFT¹ says that emotions are key to guiding our actions toward having our most essential needs met. And when we have our needs met... then we are happy. But many of us are bad at knowing how we really feel and have internal subconscious processes that stop us from knowing what we really need. To learn more about EFT¹ click here.

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT²) was developed by Susan Johnson. EFT² describes an approach that was originally designed to help couples access and meet each other's attachment needs in order to re-establish and/or strengthen the couple's bond. EFT² says that if our attachment needs are being met, then that is when we are happiest in our relationships. EFT² has been expanded from just couples to include individuals and families. To learn more about EFT² click here.

EFT¹ and EFT² are great for people who have emotional reactions that do not make sense to them and people who do not know how to identify or get what they truly need (i.e., knowing how to be happy, content, or satisfied) from themselves and/or from others.

Psychodynamic Therapy

The name people usually think of when they hear "psychodynamic" or "psychoanalytic" therapy is Sigmund Freud. However, there are many big names in the world of psychodynamic therapy such as Ronald Fairbairn (an object relations theorist), Heinz Kohut (a self-psychology theorist), Anna Freud (a defense mechanisms theorist) and many more.

Psychodynamic therapy says that a lot of the things you do in the present are caused by unconscious processes that you developed at some point in the past. The human mind is shaped by experiences. Our minds tend to internalize repeated or very noteworthy experiences and then store them in our subconscious. However, we are not always aware of things that are stored in our subconscious.

They operate in the background. Think of this like the background applications on your phone or computer, you don't see them, but they are there and they dictate most of the things your device does. And often times, these unconscious/subconscious problems cause us a lot of trouble in our relationships with others and ourselves.

Psychodynamic therapy is great for people who really want to know what is going on in the background outside their awareness, why those process are there to begin with, and how to change them. To learn more about psychodynamic therapy click here or here.

Mindfulness Therapy

There is no originator of mindfulness. Buddhist traditions are credited with exploring the concept of mindfulness in broad philosophical terms. Much of our suffering is caused by the harmful things we do to ourselves that we do because we are trying to seek pleasure and/or avoid pain (e.g., substance use, overeating, compulsions, impulsivity, etc.). Many of us also suffer because of how we focus our attention (e.g., focusing too much on our failures or flaws, focusing too much on what bad things could happen in the future, focusing too much on things outside of our control, not being able to stay focused at all, etc.). The goal of mindfulness is not relaxation and stress relief... but these are some pretty nice side effects.

Mindfulness therapy is great for people who want to learn how to stop being controlled by their thoughts, emotions, and impulses but instead have the ability to control how they focus their attention and actions. To learn more about mindfulness click here.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) was developed by Russ Harris. The aim of ACT is to maximize human potential for a rich, full and meaningful life. ACT takes the view that most psychological suffering is caused trying to avoid or get rid of unwanted experiences (such as unpleasant thoughts, feelings, sensations, urges & memories). Our efforts at experiential avoidance might work in the short term, but in the long term they often fail, and in the process, they often create significant psychological suffering. Does this sound familiar? These principles draw directly from mindfulness principles and philosophies.

ACT is great for people who want to learn mindfulness skills that help you to fundamentally change your relationship with painful thoughts and feelings. When you practice these skills in everyday life, painful feelings and unhelpful thoughts have much less impact and influence over you. Therefore, instead of wasting your time and energy in a fruitless battle with your inner experiences, you can invest your energy in taking action to change your life for the better – guided by your deepest values. Most of this description is lifted directly from Russ Harris's website so if you want to find out more just click here.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) was developed by Marsha Linehan. The term “dialectical” means the interaction of conflicting ideas. DBT helps people replace maladaptive behaviors with healthier coping skills, such as mindfulness (look here is mindfulness again!), interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance. While DBT was originally created to help people with borderline personality disorder (BPD), research has also shown it be effective in treatment of substance use disorders, mood disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders.

DBT is great for people who have a lot of difficulty with emotion regulation, managing their anger, "toxic" relationships with others, challenges with harming themselves, and difficulties with impulse control. To learn more about DBT click here.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy was developed by Francine Shapiro. EMDR was developed for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and is guided by the Adaptive Information Processing model. The Adaptive Information Processing model considers symptoms of PTSD and other disorders to result from past disturbing experiences that continue to cause distress because the memory was not adequately processed. We do not offer EMDR at Sankofa Wellness so we do not know a whole lot about it. But if you are interested in learning more you can go here, here, or here.

NeurofeedbacK Therapy

Neurofeedback teaches self-control of brain functions to people by measuring brain waves and providing an audio or video feedback signal. Neurofeedback teaches people to control their brain waves consciously using electroencephalography (EEG) recordings during the treatment. Neurofeedback has been used for a wide range of mental health conditions including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, insomnia, epilepsy, depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. We also do not offer neurofeedback therapy at Sankofa Wellness. To learn more about it click here.

Flying Solo? Part of a Duo? Looking for a Flock?

Treatment can take several formats. These include self-help, individual, couple's, group, and family therapy options. The only format we don't offer at Sankofa Wellness is family therapy. But let's tell you about the other options.

Deciding what format to choose might depend on what you can afford. Self-help therapy is typically the most affordable. Second most affordable is group therapy. Individual therapy and couple's therapy tend to cost the most and in some cases couple's therapy costs more than individual therapy.

In addition to considering the cost, you probably want to consider what psychotherapy types fit with each treatment format. This information is laid out in the table below. We have not included Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy or Neurofeedback Therapy in the table because we don't know enough about them to make informed recommendations.

Who You Gonna Call??

When it comes to seeking healing for the mind there are several options for different professionals you can turn to.

Regulated vs. Unregulated

There are professionals who are regulated (e.g., psychologists, psychological associates, psychiatrists, and psychotherapists) and there are people who are unregulated (e.g., counselors, life coaches, etc.). Regulated professionals have to answer to, what we call, a "College". The Colleges make sure regulated professionals are doing their job ethically and up to certain standards.

The Colleges relevant to mental health care in Ontario include the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO, they regulate psychologists and psychological associates in Ontario), the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CSPO, they regulate psychiatrists and other medical doctors in Ontario), and the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO, the regulate psychotherapists in Ontario).

What's the difference?

To sum it up, the main difference between each of these professionals are what they are licensed to do and the kind of formal training they have.

How much does formal training really matter?

In theory, more formal training = more knowledge and expertise. But it is important to keep in mind that a person's experiences and personal development play a big role in the quality of the service they offer. So, how much does formal training matter? Honestly... it's hard to say.