What Makes Individual Therapy Effective?

Individual therapy may include many different types of therapeutic modalities as well as target many different forms of mental health symptoms and challenges. But what makes individual therapy effective? Is it the therapist, the client, the form of therapy, or all of the above?

Different Components of Therapy

Every therapist has similarities as well as differences that makes their approach to therapeutic work unique. There are many different forms of therapy individual therapists can be trained in. These may include:

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy – to treat depression, anxiety, panic, psychosis, addiction, self-esteem issues, and mood disorders
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – to treat depression, anxiety, insomnia, addiction, self-esteem challenges, psychosis, and mood disorders
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy – to treat personality disorders, trauma, addiction, self-harm, and suicidality
• Talk Therapy – simply engaging in therapy to talk about challenges that occur in life

There are more specific forms of therapy such as:

• Brief Solution Focused Therapy – usually used in medical clinics and hospital settings
• Psychodynamic Therapy – focused on understanding conscious and unconscious drives

There are also forms of therapy that focus on healing trauma. These include:

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy – igniting the body’s innate ability to heal through the Adaptive Information Processing theory to reprocess past traumatic experiences to bring about healing
• Somatic Experiencing – discharging toxic energy stored within the body by engaging the nervous system to notice shifts in internal sensation(s)
• Internal Family Systems – parts work focused on understanding how parts of self interact in life
• Sensorimotor Therapy – heals trauma by focusing on internal shifts that impact one’s reactions
• Prolonged Exposure Therapy – extincts trauma responses from exposure to trauma details in session
• Cognitive Processing Therapy – helps to resolve past trauma(s) that reach Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder criteria by altering inaccurate thoughts and beliefs
• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy – focused on healing trauma through attachment and igniting internal capacities to overcome trauma

What Makes Individual Therapy Work?

• The therapeutic modality needs to match the reasons someone is seeking therapy. We would not want to use a therapy that has evidence for healing trauma for depression, unless there is evidence to suggest that that specific therapy can also treat depression. Or, if depression symptoms are a response to past traumatic experiences. This is where clinical assessment and judgment come into play.
• The overall approach the individual therapist takes in clinical work.
• Goodness of fit between the client and therapist.
• The client’s desire to heal and level of engagement in the therapeutic process. Most therapists have sound clinical skills; however, we are not magicians. We can’t force people to engage in therapy or make them heal. There needs to be balanced effort between the client and therapist.
• Lastly, clients who are eager to heal can sometimes be so excited (and for good reason) to heal that they believe it will be a fast process. One of the aspects of therapy is to ‘slow things down’ and regulate or re-regulate the nervous system. Therapy takes time and patience. 

Effective Individual Therapy Near Kenosha

At Revitalize Mental Health PLLC, we take the time and intention to develop tailored interventions to bring our clients internal peace and regulation to create a life they desire. We are trained in various treatment modalities and currently have openings. Call now, 720.295.6703, or submit an online form here to being the therapeutic process.