Psychotherapy Explained

Psychotherapy Explained

The collective state of mental health in the United States is fairly poor — one in five adults experiences mental illness each year. These numbers also don’t reflect the scores of people who may not meet the diagnostic criteria for mental illness but are still feeling the effects of more minor forms of anxiety, depression, stress, and more. 

Whether you’re experiencing a clinical form of mental illness or you just know that your mental health isn’t where you’d like it to be, psychotherapy can help. Here at Amavi Integrative Mental Wellness, our team of mental health experts has considerable experience helping people to reclaim their mental health through psychotherapy

To explore how this treatment may help you, we want to take a closer look at psychotherapy in this month’s blog post. 

The many faces of psychotherapy 

Psychotherapy is often referred to as talk therapy, but we think that is an overly simplistic explanation of the mental health treatment. At its core, psychotherapy is a practice in which we encourage you to identify thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and experiences that are troubling you. And there are many ways that we do that, including: 

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

With CBT, we help you recognize negative thought patterns that lead to negative behaviors. The idea is that you can stop the behavior before it even occurs by recognizing (and changing) the thoughts that lead to the behaviors. 

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)

DBT is a type of behavioral therapy that helps people better deal with stress and emotions. Through mindfulness practices, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal communication, our goal is to help improve your ability to function in the world around you. 

Eye movement and desensitization therapy (EMDR)

About 70% of adults in the US have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, and many are left with lasting mental health repercussions. EMDR is designed to help your brain heal after a trauma by encouraging healthier pathways in your brain. 

Acceptance and commitment therapy

This is an action-oriented technique where we focus on acceptance rather than denial, so you can move forward in your life.  

In addition to these specific forms of psychotherapy, we also offer couples therapy, which helps couples to move past hurdles in their relationships. 

When psychotherapy can help

Clearly, psychotherapy is a broad category, which means it can help with most mental health issues, including:

  • Major depressive disorder
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Borderline personality disorder
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder

Even if you’re feeling overwhelmed by life, but you fall short of the diagnostic criteria for a mental illness, psychotherapy can help. 

If you’d like to learn more about psychotherapy, please schedule an appointment at our office in Niwot, Colorado, which also serves the Boulder and Longmont areas. 

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Telehealth Services

Telehealth is a safe and convenient option to receive care from home. Please contact us to find out more about Telehealth Services for mental health care.