Talk Therapy Is Not a One-Size-Fits-All Approach
Written by Will Candell, LMSW Psychotherapist at Wavelength Psychotherapy
KEY POINTS:
No one-size-fits-all approach exists for mental health.
An effective clinical approach pulls from different modalities to meet the specific needs of the client.
A combination of approaches may be useful in treating a single issue facing a single client.
Maintaining an open mind and communicating with your therapist is important for new patients, especially.
People Expect a Single Type of Treatment
“What type of therapy do you practice?” is a question I often hear from prospective clients, particularly those with previous treatment experience.
My answer is a typical therapist response: “That’s a great and complicated question.” As a therapist, it's in my nature to give an answer that may confound more than clarify.
My response may sound stereotypically therapeutic, but it’s also true! At least several dozen approaches to modern talk therapy exist, many of which share overlapping frameworks and techniques.
There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Approach
Any effective clinical approach will draw from different modalities to meet the client's specific needs. Simply put, there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Consider the common case of a client experiencing anxiety about performance at work. They catastrophize about losing their job, blame themselves for things beyond their control, and fixate on negative feedback from their boss. For this client, tools from several different therapeutic approaches may be useful.
Let’s say this client has had a particularly rough day. They may enter the session in distress and need immediate relief and de-escalation. Mindfulness techniques like breathing exercises, increasing somatic awareness, and journaling may help them return to a level of stasis.
Once the client feels more regulated, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) may be useful. CBT is a form of therapy that aims to identify and modify unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors. This may involve helping the client create mental representations of worst-case scenarios, having them consider external explanations for failures, and evaluating evidence for their biased thinking. This can help them restructure their thinking and alleviate their anxious symptoms.
Subsequently (or simultaneously), the client may seek more reflective, insight-oriented therapy to dig beneath the surface of these presenting issues. Psychodynamic therapy can be beneficial here. Psychodynamic therapy is a longer-term approach that explores unconscious thoughts and emotions to gain insight into a person's behavior. Helping the client identify and reflect upon early life experiences, relationships, and traumas that may impact their current relationship can yield long-lasting change.
Combining Therapeutic Approaches is Effective
In this example we see three fundamentally different approaches–mindfulness, CBT, and psychodynamic therapy–can all help treat a single issue a client faces. Deciding which therapeutic approach to use is a false choice. An eclectic approach integrating different elements can provide comprehensive, personalized, effective therapy.
Talk To Your Therapist About Different Therapy Modalities
For new therapy clients, it's important to remain open-minded and tell your therapist what therapeutic methods work best for you.
Will
Will Candell is a therapist who focuses on men’s mental health and LGBTQ+ issues. He practices at Wavelength Psychotherapy, which is based in New York City and Northern New Jersey.
