Explore 5 Different Types of Therapy to Support Mental Well-Being

What Is Therapy for Mental Health and Well-Being?

Therapy, also called psychotherapy or talk therapy, is a form of treatment offered by a mental health professional. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), therapy can help people with a wide range of mental health problems and psychiatric disorders by identifying and changing unhealthy, troubling, or negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

The goal of psychotherapy is to teach a person coping strategies to better manage unhealthy thought patterns and problematic behaviors. This can relieve emotional distress and help the person lead a fulfilling life.

There are different therapy types, and a trained therapist can offer therapy in one-on-one sessions, as a couple, family therapy with other family members, or group therapy with other patients. It can be offered in face-to-face therapy sessions or in the form of online therapy. Continue reading to learn more about 5 common types of therapy, how they work, who they typically help, and how long it is used to provide treatment.

Check out our blog “Psychiatrist vs Therapist: Understanding the Difference.”

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

How It Works

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a highly effective, evidence-based mental health treatment. It teaches you to recognize, understand, and change inaccurate, harmful, or negative beliefs and behavior patterns. While receiving cognitive behavioral therapy, you are an active participant in your recovery and learn coping skills that are useful lifelong. CBT involves doing homework assignments that help you practice coping and problem-solving skills that you learn during therapy sessions and apply them to real-world situations.

Who It Helps

CBT is particularly helpful for people with mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, panic disorder, irrational beliefs, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, schizophrenia, and sexual disorders. A specific type of CBT, for example, trauma-focused CBT, may be helpful for people with certain mental health conditions, such as PTSD related to a traumatic event. A CBT therapist can also help people going through stressful life situations by helping them learn coping techniques for emotional regulation.

Length of Therapy

Cognitive behavior therapy is a short-term therapy with weekly sessions. Benefits are usually seen in 5-20 sessions or 12-16 weeks.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

How It Works

Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) was invented by an American psychologist, Marsha Linehan. This treatment approach involves techniques of CBT with meditation and mindfulness-based practices to promote acceptance and change. Dialectical means combining opposing ideas. DBT helps people accept the reality of their lives and learn skills to change their behaviors. Skills learned during DBT sessions include interpersonal communication, distress tolerance, and emotional regulation.

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Who It Helps

DBT is especially useful for people who experience intense emotions, for example, those with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Other mental health issues that can benefit from DBT include PTSD, eating disorders, substance use disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, self-harm, and suicidal tendencies.

Length of Therapy

Dialectical behavioral therapy can last 6-12 months and even several years.

Psychodynamic Therapy

How It Works

Psychodynamic therapy is a form of therapy that helps you understand unconscious processes and their effects on your current behavior. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are increased self-awareness and understanding of how your past influences your present behavior. This can help you understand unresolved conflicts and dysfunctional relationships in the past and how they affect your present.

Who It Helps

Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a very effective treatment for people with substance abuse disorders. It can be offered in conjunction with traditional drug and alcohol treatment programs.

Learn more: Is Alcoholism a Mental Illness or Chronic Disease?

Length of Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy is a type of long-term therapy that usually requires at least 2 years of therapy sessions.

Behavioral Therapy

How It Works

Behavioral therapy focuses on the role of learning in shaping normal and abnormal behaviors. Pavlov’s experiments with dogs played a key role in the development of this type of therapy by demonstrating classical conditioning or associative learning between certain behaviors.

Other forms of behavioral therapy include desensitizing therapy or exposure therapy, where repeated exposure to a trigger can help reduce anxiety. Operant conditioning is a type of learning where reward and punishment are used to shape a person’s behavior. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapy modality that helps you reprocess traumatic memories by moving your eyes in a certain way.

Who It Helps

Behavior therapy can help people with a phobia, substance use disorder, PTSD, and other mental health problems.

Check out our blog to learn about agoraphobia and its causes.

Length of Therapy

Behavioral therapy may be offered over 4-6 therapy sessions, although some patients may need up to 12 sessions for severe phobias.

Humanistic Therapy

How It Works

This is a type of person-centered therapy that places emphasis on self-discovery, free will, and human potential. The goal is to develop your capacity to make rational choices. It is a client-centered therapy that focuses on helping you change by emphasizing your concerns and interests rather than having the therapist be an authority on your inner experiences. Gestalt therapy emphasizes "organismic holism," or being aware of present emotions and accepting responsibility for yourself. Existential therapy emphasizes self-determination, free will, and the search for your true authentic self.

Who It Helps

Humanistic psychotherapy is a client-centered approach that can be useful for people with depression and anxiety disorders, personality disorders, addiction, relationship issues, and other mental health conditions.

Length of Therapy

Humanistic therapy can be short- or long-term, depending on your needs.

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Other Forms of Therapy

Interpersonal Therapy

Interpersonal therapy helps you understand your emotions and how they affect your interpersonal effectiveness (behavior and relationships with others). It has been found to have therapeutic benefits for people with major depressive disorder.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has elements of CBT and behavior therapy. It is an action-oriented approach in which you learn to stop avoiding your emotions and, instead, learn to accept your deepest feelings in response to your life situations. The goal is to help you move forward in your life with the understanding that you must accept your hardships and make behavioral changes for personal growth regardless of what is going on in your life.

Compassion Focused Therapy

Compassion focused therapy (CFT) is a type of therapy that is helpful for people who struggle with shame, guilt, self-criticism, or low self-esteem. These feelings are often the result of neglect or abuse in early life. CFT teaches you to develop self-compassion and self-acceptance and to regulate your mood by utilizing techniques similar to mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.

Solution Focused Therapy

Solution focused therapy does not delve into past events or the cause of your mental health challenges. Instead of past experiences, it focuses on the present moment and future needs. The goal of solution focused therapy is to maximize your strengths and help you develop skills to keep moving forward. These skills may involve learning to change harmful behaviors, manage difficult situations, or achieve life goals.

Adlerian Therapy

Adlerian therapy, or individual psychology, is a type of short-term, goal-oriented psychodynamic therapy based on theories developed by Alfred Adler, an Austrian psychotherapist, who worked with a well-known neurologist named Sigmund Freud. This type of therapy focuses on exploring feelings of inferiority, discouragement, and a sense of not belonging to one’s community or society. The goal is to motivate you by developing your personality and helping you understand how all humans are interconnected.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) uses different communication, behavioral, and perceptual techniques to help you change your thoughts and actions. It can be useful in the treatment of phobias and anxiety disorders.

Common Questions Answered

How Many Therapies Are There?

The American Psychological Association (APA) recognizes five different psychotherapy approaches: psychoanalysis, behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, humanistic therapy, and holistic (integrative) therapy. Within these five broad categories, there are more than 50 types of therapy approaches, but only a handful are commonly used.

What Are The Five Major Types Of Therapy?

The five major types of therapy are psychodynamic therapies, cognitive therapies, behavior therapies, humanistic therapies, and holistic (integrative) therapy. Integrative or holistic therapy is when the therapists offer a blend of these therapy approaches. For example, mentalization-based therapy is an integrative form of therapy that includes elements of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Other forms of therapy may include art therapy, animal-assisted therapy, breathing exercises, or mindfulness-based therapies (MBCT), depending on your needs.

What Is The Most Common Type Of Therapy?

The most common type of therapy is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is effective for a wide range of mental health issues. Cognitive behavioral therapy is problem-oriented; this approach doesn’t typically deal with past issues but focuses on current problems and works through them to find solutions.

What Are The Three Main Approaches to Therapies?

Under the five broad categories of therapy, the three main approaches that are widely used by mental health professionals include cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and psychodynamic therapy.