What is it?

Motivational interviewing is a collaborative counseling method that helps people address ambivalent feelings and insecurities to find and strengthen their own motivation and commitment to change their behavior. 

What to expect

In an accepting and compassionate manner, a therapist encourages clients to talk about  change and their own reasons for wanting to change. The interviewer listens and reflects back the client's thoughts so that the client can hear their reasons and motivations expressed back to them. Motivational interviewing is generally short-term counseling that requires just one or two sessions, though it can also be included as an intervention along with other, longer-term therapies.

What is it?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a solution focused evidenced based therapy model that addresses unhelpful thoughts and behaviors by replacing those thoughts and behaviors with more effective options allowing participants to view situations more accurately and respond to those situations in a more helpful way. Participants are also taught to question their unhelpful, negative thoughts and feelings versus accepting them to help ineffective behavior. 

What to expect

You will work together with your therapist to determine your treatment goals and identify the problems that you would like to address. You learn different skills in session to help you reframe your negative, unhelpful thoughts and feelings to more positive and constructive ones. Your therapist will likely give you homework so you can practice the skills you are learning in session in real situations in between sessions. You may find CBT alone is enough to help you, or you may combine it with other forms of treatment. 

What is it?

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) in an evidenced based therapy model that helps people learn new skills to manage painful, strong emotions and decrease problematic behaviors and conflicts in relationships. Dialectic means that two opposite ideas can be true at the same time, and when those ideas are viewed together, they can create a new way of seeing a situation. The dialectic at the heart of DBT is acceptance and change. In DBT, individuals are taught skills that enable them to experience their emotions without necessarily acting on them. They are also taught to replace problematic behaviors, such as self-injury or bingeing and purging, with skillful ones. DBT specifically focuses on providing therapeutic skills in four key areas. First, mindfulness focuses on accepting, being fully aware,  and being present in the current moment. Second, distress tolerance on how to tolerance of negative emotions and pain in difficult situations without making the situation worse. Third, emotion regulation on how to manage and express intense emotions effectively. Fourth, interpersonal effectiveness on how to communicate with others to ask for what you want, saying no, maintaining self-respect, and strengthening relationships. 

What to expect

DBT treatment consists of individual therapy sessions and DBT skills groups. Individual therapy sessions are typically scheduled weekly with a DBT trained therapist who helps you address problematic behaviors and apply the DBT skills within daily life. DBT skills groups typically meet weekly lasting approximately 2 hours over a 6 month time period. Groups can be shorter or longer, depending on the needs of the group members. Group participants learn and practice skills alongside other group members. Members of the group are encouraged to share their experiences and provide mutual support. Groups are led by DBT trained therapists teaching skills and leading exercises. The group members are then assigned weekly homework, such as practicing mindfulness exercises. Some agencies may provide DBT informed therapy in which some people attend one-on-one therapy sessions without attending the weekly skills group; and others might attend group without attending the weekly one-on-one sessions.

What is it?

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a type of evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy effective for treating post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related symptoms for individuals that have experienced combat, sexual, childhood trauma. CPT addresses how the person perceives themselves and their environment related to ability to protect themselves and others; ability to trust the judgement and intentions of themselves and others; control and influence their lives and/or the lives of people they care about; seeing themselves or others as broken or evil; and to being able to connect or be understood by others. CPT focuses on teaching skills to challenge negative, unhelpful thoughts and gain control over the impact the thoughts have had on your life to help complete the recovery process. 

What to expect

CPT typically involves 12 weekly sessions, though this can vary depending on your needs. In CPT, you will work with your therapist to identify and explore the ways that the trauma may have altered your thoughts and beliefs in turn affecting how you feel and act towards yourself and others. Your therapist will specifically help you pick out thoughts (stuck points) that keep you fixed in the trauma and create barriers to recovery. You will learn a set of strategies to challenge and modify thoughts that are inaccurate and/or unhelpful, and will practice these strategies with your therapist in session and on your own in between sessions with worksheets and exercises. You may find it helpful, though it is not required, to write about the specific events of your trauma.