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Read articles from Journey to Wellness Counseling, LLC offers counseling therapy in southern CT and throughout Connecticut. Individual, Couple, Family, Group therapy, specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy, humanistic therapy, family systems therapy, bilingual services, hospice, end of life, and various mental health issues. via Telehealth, Zoom available.

How Therapy Helps with Anxiety and Depression

Every person is unique so techniques that work for one may not work for another. This is why it is important to find a therapist that will tailor treatment to each person’s individual case. There are several types of therapy available. Read on to learn more about cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and psychodynamic therapy. Often a therapy plan or anxiety or depression may include a combination of all three.

Why is Therapy Needed for Anxiety or Depression?

Therapy helps individuals develop a better awareness of what they are feeling and why they are feeling that way. Triggers are identified and coping skills highlighted to help with expected reactions to those triggers. Therapy can also help with reframing negative thinking resulting in positive behavior patterns.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is known for its effectiveness with depression and anxiety disorders.

According to the American Psychological Association (AGA), CBT is based on several core principles, including:

  1. Psychological problems are based, in part, on faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking.

  2. Psychological problems are based, in part, on learned patterns of unhelpful behavior.

  3. People suffering from psychological problems can learn better ways of coping with them, thereby relieving their symptoms and becoming more effective in their lives.

CBT treatment usually involves efforts to change thinking patterns. These strategies might include:

  • Learning to recognize one’s distortions in thinking that are creating problems, and then to reevaluate them in light of reality.

  • Gaining a better understanding of the behavior and motivation of others.

  • Using problem-solving skills to cope with difficult situations.

  • Learning to develop a greater sense of confidence in one’s own abilities.

CBT treatment also usually involves efforts to change behavioral patterns. These strategies might include:

  • Facing one’s fears instead of avoiding them.

  • Using role playing to prepare for potentially problematic interactions with others.

  • Learning to calm one’s mind and relax one’s body.

While a certain amount of history is needed, CBT therapists emphasize what is going on in the person’s current life, rather than what has led up to their difficulties. Through exercises in the session and at home, individuals develop coping skills, whereby they can learn to change their own thinking, problematic emotions, and behavior.

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) is an approach used often to treat depression with the belief that change in social environment is a key factor in the onset of depression as well as continued depression.

IPT can help with:

  • social isolation or involvement in unfulfilling relationships

  • unresolved grief especially if the onset of distress is linked to the death of a loved one, either recent or past

  • difficult life transitions including retirement, divorce, moving to another city., or other life changes

  • dealing with interpersonal disputes that emerge from conflicting expectations between partners, family members, close friends, or coworkers

IPT differs from other traditional psychodynamic approaches in that it examines current rather than past relationships, and recognizes (but does not focus on) internal conflicts. IPT’s hope is to change relationship patterns rather than the associated depressive symptoms, as well as target relationship difficulties that accentuate these symptoms.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy focuses on the psychological roots of emotional suffering. By helping individuals better understand why they think and feel and the way that they do, it can improve their ability to make better choices, relate easier to others, and to help lead healthier lives.

Psychodynamic therapy is known as a “talking therapy” meaning that it is based on the concept that talking about problems can help people learn and develop skills to address these problems.

According to Medical News Today, psychodynamic therapy is based on the following key principles:

  • Unconscious motivations (such as social pressure, biology, and psychology) can affect behavior

  • Experience shapes personality, which can affect an individual’s response to that experience

  • Past experiences affect the present

  • Developing insight and emotional understanding can help individuals with psychological issues

  • Expanding the range of choices and improving personal relationships can help people address their problems

  • Freeing themselves from their pasts can help people live better in the future

Think You Might Need Help with Anxiety or Depression?

Are you feeling overwhelmed and stuck?

Are you held back by your past and feel as if you continue to repeat unhealthy patterns?

You are not alone.

If you are motivated to start your journey to wellness, you can be assured that you have safely arrived. Together, we will travel your unique path to a life of balance, abundance, and joy.

Please feel free to reach out to me at (203) 415-5162 or visit my website at www.journeyct.com.

Andrea-Lynne DeCrosta