Types of Therapy: An A to Z List of Your Options

Psychotherapy is not a one-size-fits-all approach to treating mental health conditions. If you've ever thought about trying therapy, you've probably noticed that there are many different therapy types available. 

The type of therapy that will work best for you depends on various factors, including your symptoms, needs, goals as well as your individual preferences.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that helps people identify distorted, unhelpful thoughts that adversely affect emotions and behaviors. After identifying these patterns, people can challenge them and develop more adaptive ones.

How It Works

During CBT, people work with their therapist to figure out which types of distorted thoughts are contributing to their current problems. It is a guided self-discovery process that requires introspection and discussion. While it can be challenging and uncomfortable sometimes, it can also be a great way to gain personal insights that help fuel future growth.

Once such patterns have been explored, a therapist will then help the individual find better ways of approaching the problem. This involves actively disputing the thoughts and replacing them with more realistic, helpful, or positive ones.

What It’s Good For

CBT is often described as the gold standard of psychotherapy given the amount of research support it has.

It has been shown to be effective for a variety of conditions including:

• Anxiety disorders
• Substance use disorders
• Depressive disorders
• Bipolar disorder
• Eating disorders
• Personality disorders
• Phobias
  

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy that incorporates acceptance, mindfulness, and emotional regulation strategies.

How It Works

DBT usually involves weekly sessions that last around an hour, however it may also involve group sessions and intersession contact with your therapist. Sessions are focused on balancing between acceptance and change. A therapist will help the individual practice strategies such as mindfulness to help people stay more focused on the present moment.  

It also utilizes distress tolerance techniques such as self-soothing or physical strategies to help people manage strong emotions. Other important parts of DBT focus on interpersonal effectiveness and emotional regulation.

What It’s Good For

DBT was originally developed to treat borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, it can also be useful with a range of other conditions, particularly those that involve problems with emotional regulation.

It can be used to treat conditions including:

• Anxiety disorders
• Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Bipolar disorder
• Depressive disorders
• Eating disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Substance use disorders
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Suicidal behavior and non-suicidal self-injury
  

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a form of CBT that focuses on helping people learn to accept their thoughts and feelings and commit to goals that support their values.

How It Works

ACT utilizes six important processes to help people improve their psychological flexibility. These involve:

• Identifying your values
• Committed action
• Self as context - involving you observing your physical and emotional sensations
• Cognitive Diffusion - Separating yourself from your thoughts and emotions
• Allowing yourself to accept your thoughts and emotions without trying to change them
• Connecting with the present moment to help stay engaged and aware

What It’s Good For

ACT can be effective in treating a variety of conditions, including:

• Anxiety
• Chronic pain
• Depression
• Eating disorders
• Psychosis
• Stress
• Substance use disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD)
  

Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy is a treatment approach focused on helping people gain insight into the roots of their emotional suffering. It is influenced by psychoanalytic theory, but in contrast to traditional psychoanalysis is less frequent, and more focused on here and now conflicts and relationship dynamics. It not only works to alleviate symptoms but also to help people grow in their emotional health and capacities.

How It Works

Like psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapy works to help people uncover how their unconscious emotions or memories might influence their behavior.

During psychodynamic therapy, a person will meet with their therapist one or more times per week to talk about what's on their mind, memories they've been thinking about, or current problems they are facing.

What It’s Good For

• Anxiety disorders
• Depressive disorders
• Personality disorders
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Substance use disorders

It can also be helpful for people who are experiencing other emotional issues, such as challenges in work, relationships, and with self-esteem.

Family Therapy

Family therapy approaches are a type of therapy that can help individuals by improving communication, reducing conflict, and strengthening relationships between family members.

Home environments and relationships can have an important impact on mental health issues, so improving this aspect of a person's life can have a significant effect on how a person feels, functions and copes.

How It Works

The specific techniques a therapist uses in family therapy can vary depending on the therapist and the issues the individual and family are experiencing. It may incorporate techniques from other types of therapy, including cognitive, behavioral, and psychodynamic approaches.

The focus of family therapy is to make changes to the family dynamic to ensure each person has the support they need. During these sessions, the family may focus on particular issues, talk about past problems, or practice coping skills that can promote healing and communication.

What It’s Good For

Family therapy can be effective in treating a number of conditions and issues that affect families, including:

• Anxiety disorders
• Substance use disorders
• Depressive disorders
• Chronic illness
  

Other Types of Therapy to Consider A to Z

In addition to some of the best-known and most frequently used types of therapy, there are a wide variety of other approaches that are often used to treat certain conditions or mental health concerns.

A Through C

ABA therapy is a behavioral approach that relies on reinforcement to change problematic behaviors in autism spectrum disorders. Although there is data for its effectiveness, there is some current controversy in the autism community about whether there should be a greater emphasis on building skills rather than trying to make kids with autism fit neurotypical norms.

Accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP) is a type of therapy designed to help people manage anxiety, depression, stress, and trauma. It focuses on framing challenges and problems as opportunities to grow and heal.

Adlerian therapy is a treatment approach based on the theories of psychiatrist Alfred Adler. It stresses understanding a person's social environment and how belonging and social interaction can help promote well-being.

Anger management focuses on helping people learn to recognize and manage feelings of anger and rage. During treatment, people learn how to limit their exposure to anger-provoking situations, but they also explore healthy ways of expressing their feelings and controlling angry outbursts.

Art therapy utilizes creative expression to help improve mental well-being. Collage, painting, coloring, and photography are just a few techniques that may help people express their feelings and cope with distress. Research suggests it can be helpful for a range of psychological issues, including anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and relationship problems.

Attachment therapy helps people understand how their earliest bonds with caregivers impact their relationships in adulthood. This approach can be helpful for people who experience trauma, neglect, or other difficult childhood experiences. The idea is to help adults get in touch with their inner child to heal wounds and hurts that continue to affect a person in the present.

Aversion therapy involves repeatedly pairing an unwanted behavior with an unpleasant stimulus, such as an electrical shock. It is a form of behavioral therapy that is sometimes used to create an association between a behavior and discomfort. However, this type of therapy can be controversial and harmful in some cases.

Behavioral therapy involves utilizing conditioning processes to help change behaviors. It is rooted in the principles of behaviorism and involves techniques like rewards, punishments, flooding, desensitization, behavior modeling, and token economies to shape behavior. It can be helpful when focusing on specific problems and may be used to treat conditions such as anxiety, depression, phobias, and substance use disorders.

Bereavement therapy, also known as grief counseling, is designed to help people who have experienced the death of a loved one. Grief can lead to a range of physical and psychological symptoms that make coping and functioning more difficult. Bereavement therapy can help people work through their challenging feelings related to a loss.

Bibliotherapy involves using books and literature to gain insight into problems that a person might be facing in their own life. After discussing thoughts, emotions, or problems with a mental health professional, a therapist might recommend specific books to help people learn more about their problems and find solutions that might help.

Bioenergetic therapy is an approach that focuses on how the mind, body, and spirit are connected. By releasing both physical and psychological tension, this approach strives to help improve problems with stress, anger, depression, and anxiety. Specific techniques that may be used to accomplish this include sensory awareness, grounding, body movement, and supportive contact.

Bowenian family therapy seeks to understand how patterns are passed down through families. It works to help families heal these destructive, toxic patterns by improving communication, increasing autonomy, and strengthening boundaries. Families are asked to help create genograms that provide rich details about families, histories, relationships, and patterns.

Brainspotting therapy is an emerging alternative treatment focused on helping people process difficult emotions and memories. It is an offshoot of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR).

Client-centered therapy, aka person-centered therapy, associated with humanist psychologist Carl Rogers is a collaborative, non-directive, and non-judgmental therapy. The therapist takes a position of unconditional positive regard, helping clients adjust their self-concept.

Cognitive processing therapy (CBT) is a type of CBT therapy designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Through psychoeducation, belief change, and skill development, people can let go of thoughts that keep them stuck on a traumatic experience.

Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) is an approach that utilizes compassion training and psychotherapy. It is designed to foster self-compassion leading to a variety of emotional and interpersonal benefits.

Couples therapy is designed to help romantic and intimate partners repair or improve their relationship. It can improve communication and connection and help couples learn how to deal with outside stress more effectively.

D Through I

Dance therapy utilizes body movement to promote mental well-being. In addition to relieving stress and improving physical health, it can also help people who are coping with conditions such as anxiety and depression.

Drama therapy, also known as psychodrama, encourages people to express themselves through acting, theater, improvisation, and role-play. It is an active approach to creative therapy that can help people solve problems, improve relationships, boost self-esteem, and increase emotional expression. (North American Drama Therapy Association. What is drama therapy?)

Eclectic therapy describes an approach many therapists use that involves drawing on many different therapy approaches during treatment. For example, a therapist may draw on behavioral, cognitive, DBT, and psychodynamic approaches.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a treatment that uses bilateral (left-right) eye movement stimulation to help people process and recover from the impact of traumatic memories. Research suggests that EMDR can help reduce the pain and emotional effects of those memories.

Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) focuses on helping adults improve their attachment bonds. It is a short-term therapy that follows three main stages: de-escalation, restructuring, and consolidating. It can help couples who are struggling with conflict, distress and poor communication.

Exposure therapy is a behavioral approach that has people face their fears in order to gradually reduce feelings of anxiety. It can be an effective treatment for panic disorder, phobias, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and aspects of PTSD.

Expressive arts therapy utilizes a range of creative self-expression, such as visual art, dance, music, and writing, to help build self-awareness and cope with difficult emotions.

Feminist therapy is a type of therapy that focuses on helping women with the stress and bias they experience due to gender discrimination. It can help women practice speaking up when they face bias and examine the power structures that can harm mental health.

Gestalt therapy is centered on the here and now of a person's life. It seeks to understand the context of a person's present life and its impact on their current challenges.

Group therapy involves a therapist leading sessions with more than one client at the same time. It can be an effective way for people to share, practice skills, build connections, and learn from others.

Hakomi therapy is a somatic approach that utilizes supportive, consensual touch to help people gain comfort and awareness while processing difficult emotions and experiences.

Healing touch therapy is an alternative approach that uses energy work to support mental and spiritual well-being. It is based on ideas drawn from Eastern medicine that focus on creating harmonious energy balances to help people feel well.

Holistic therapy is an integrative, mind-body approach that incorporates techniques such as breathwork, hypnosis, guided imagery, mindfulness, and yoga alongside psychotherapy techniques such as CBT and psychodynamic therapy.

Humanistic therapy is an approach that focuses on helping people achieve their goals and achieve personal fulfillment. It incorporates strategies such as unconditional positive regard and reflective listening to help clients build self-awareness and a positive sense of self.

Imago therapy is an approach that can help people manage and resolve conflicts within a relationship. It can help reduce hurtful language that contributes to problems, provide a safe environment that fosters greater openness, and give each person the chance to communicate their needs and listen to their partner.

Integrative therapy, sometimes called multimodal therapy, involves drawing on various therapeutic approaches to treat each person's unique problems. It involves combining many techniques and adapting them to suit the individual situation and problem.

Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy helps people improve interpersonal relationships and develop regular routines supporting mental health. By stabilizing these aspects of a person's life, people can improve mood and develop stronger relationship skills.

Interpersonal therapy is an approach that helps people better understand how their thoughts and feelings can affect their relationships with other people. It is usually a short-term treatment and can help with problems such as depression, anxiety, and substance use problems.

J Through P

Jungian therapy is an approach based on the theories of psychiatrist Carl Jung. It focuses on helping people find their inner selves by exploring unconscious influences through art, imagination, dream analysis, and word association.

Logotherapy is an approach that works to help people build resilience by finding a sense of purpose in their lives. It utilizes techniques such as dereflection, paradoxical intention, and Socratic dialogue to aid in self-discovery.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) combines CBT with mindfulness to help people become more aware of their thoughts and feelings. This approach helps people become more self-aware, gain mental clarity, and let go of negative thoughts. 

Motivational enhancement therapy (MET) is a technique that can help people with substance use issues become more motivated to change. It focuses on helping people recognize the effects of their behavior while fostering a stronger belief in their ability to change these behaviors.

Music therapy utilizes music to help improve mental well-being. In addition to listening to music, it can also involve writing songs, dancing, or talking about music.

Narrative therapy focuses on helping people become experts in their own life story, while helping them more effectively observe their own lives, behaviors and problems. By becoming experts in their own stories, people can live in ways that reflect their values, beliefs, and goals.

Nature therapy utilizes nature to help promote healing and wellness. It involves spending time outdoors in green spaces. Types of nature therapy include wilderness therapy and adventure therapy.

Play therapy utilizes play, such as painting, dancing, or games, to help children cope with emotional or mental challenges. It is typically utilized with younger children between the ages of 3 and 12.

Primal therapy encourages people to express their deepest emotions through talking, crying, yelling, or shouting. The idea is that venting such emotions can lead to relief and help process and integrate past experiences with the present.

Problem-solving therapy teaches problem-solving skills so that people can better tackle life's challenges. It can help with depression, anxiety, stress, substance use, and other problems that affect mental health.

Psychedelic therapy involves using psychedelic substances to aid in the psychotherapeutic process. Substances such as LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA are a few that are being explored for their potential therapeutic effects.

R Through Z

Rational emotive behavior therapy focuses on helping people recognize and overcome irrational beliefs that contribute to mental health problems. It emphasizes acceptance while working to help people actively dispute and replace negative beliefs.

Reality therapy is a controversial therapy that rejects the idea of mental health conditions and suggests that all behaviors are the result of choices. It encourages people to take control of their lives by being accountable for their actions.

Regression therapy is a controversial and debated form of therapy that involves hypnosis to regress to an earlier point in time to understand how past events influence current functioning. Critics suggest that it can lead to false memories.

Relational therapy emphasizes relationships and explores how these connections influence an individual's well-being. It works to improve communication and connection to help people overcome unhealthy habits that might affect their relationships.

Reminiscence therapy focuses on recalling positive past events to help induce feelings of pleasure and well-being. It is often used to help comfort older people who may find it enjoyable and fulfilling to focus on fond memories of the past.

Sand tray therapy involves using a sand tray and small tools and figures as a way for people to express themselves. It is often used with kids but can also be helpful for adults as a way to deal with feelings of anxiety and trauma.

Schema-focused therapy is a treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD) that helps people with the condition change unhelpful thinking that contributes to symptoms. The goal is to change unhelpful underlying schemas, or pervasive thought and behavior patterns, to be more helpful and adaptive.

Sex therapy helps couples understand and resolve issues that might be standing in the way of a healthy sexual relationship. It may focus on improving communication, managing stress, and building intimacy.

Sex addiction therapy combines psychotherapy and medication to treat sex addictions. It utilizes approaches such as CBT, exposure therapy, and couples therapy along with medications such as SSRI antidepressants or naltrexone to help people gain better control of their behavior.

Sleep therapy helps people improve their sleep. It can treat conditions such as insomnia, but it can also be helpful for other conditions that can be affected by poor sleep.

Solution-focused brief therapy focuses on finding solutions to a person's current problems. It focuses on helping people use their strengths and motivations to figure out how to handle different situations.

Somatic therapy is a body-centric approach to treating PTSD and other conditions. It incorporates breathwork, dance, meditation, mind-body exercises, and talk therapy.

Strengths-based therapy is an approach based on positive psychology that helps people recognize their strengths, build resilience, and build their sense of self-efficacy. 

Supportive-expressive therapy is a form of psychodynamic therapy that helps people improve their self-control when dealing with substance use issues. Research suggests that it can be effective in the treatment of substance use disorders when used alone or combined with other approaches.

Systemic therapy looks at the connections between the problems a person is facing, their behavior patterns, their relationships, and their life choices. Because all these areas are interconnected, changes in one area can also have resounding effects in other areas.

Transference-focused therapy is a treatment for borderline personality disorder that uses the relationship between a therapist and a client to help people change how they relate to other people. Therapists work with clients to create healthier relationships that support better well-being.

Trauma therapy helps people who have had traumatic experiences deal with the emotional aftermath. It may involve writing about these experiences, talking about their effects, or using exposure techniques to confront trauma triggers.

Teletherapy, or online therapy, involves providing therapy online through video conferencing, online chat, internet phone, email, or text messaging. This approach has grown tremendously in recent years thanks to its convenience and effectiveness.

Yoga therapy is a mind-body approach that utilizes yoga movements, mindfulness, meditation, and breathing exercises to promote wellness and relaxation. While it uses yoga, it is much more than just a yoga class. Instead, it is a one-on-one session with a therapist that can help treat stress, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.