At Brookhaven Retreat we use a number of different types of therapeutic approaches in order to provide individualized care. Individual and group psychotherapy are provided for each client. The specific type of psychotherapy used during individual therapy sessions will be based upon each client’s individual needs. Our therapists have been extensively trained in each therapeutic modality used at Brookhaven Retreat. Specific types of psychotherapy that we provide include:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was developed by Aaron Beck and is the most widely used and evidenced based approach for treating depression and anxiety disorders. CBT specifically targets negative and unhealthy thinking patterns and replaces them with more positive ones. This approach assumes that the thoughts and beliefs of an individual with depression or anxiety are distorted and skewed to a negative tone. This therapeutic approach is ultimately aimed at identifying the maladaptive core beliefs that are underneath the symptoms. This begins with identifying the destructive automatic thoughts of an individual and helping them to connect the thought to the resulting emotion and ultimately behavioral action. The assumption is that if the negative thinking and belief patterns of the person can be changed, this will ultimately change the person’s mood and behavior. Specific tools used in CBT include: keeping a daily thought record, cognitive restructuring exercises, desensitization, and thought stopping exercises.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Dialectical Behavior Therapy was created by Marsha Linenhan and is the most widely used evidence-based approach for treating Borderline Personality Disorder but has also been shown to be effective with many other types of conditions. There are four different sets of skills that are taught in DBT. These include two survival skills, Mindfulness and Distress Tolerance, and two change skills, Emotion Regulation and Interpersonal Effectiveness. The Mindfulness Skills teach how to be in the moment rather than stuck in the past or worried about the future. The Distress Tolerance Skills focus on techniques to help manage stress and crisis moments in life. Tools such as self-soothing and healthy distraction are part of this set of skills. Interpersonal Effectiveness skills are relationship-oriented skills that address the areas of life that are often damaged as a result of the unsuccessful management of strong emotions. These skills help an individual to communicate their needs more effectively and to hear and validate others in life including themselves. Finally, the Emotion Regulation Skills which provide target giving coping tools for identifying emotions and regulating their expression. These skills help an individual to regulate the frequency and intensity of emotions as well as self and daily life.
- Eye Movement & Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR): Eye Movement and Desensitization Reprocessing is a type of therapy that was developed by Francine Shapiro and is used as a method of processing traumatic events as well as eliminating emotional blockades that inhibit progress in therapy. EMDR uses “dual stimulation” with the induction of bilateral eye movements, tones or taps to help the client process the trauma using both sides of their brain simultaneously in order to increase the effectiveness of processing. This assists the brain in resorting memory connections and associations and allows the person to alter the effect that an early trauma has emotionally. Research has shown that EMDR is successful in helping those dealing with the memories of emotionally painful or traumatic experiences. Those suffering will benefit from EMDR because it helps to quickly and effectively get to the point of letting go of the painful memory so that the memory no longer causes emotional distress. The end result of EMDR treatment is that although there will still be a memory of a traumatic event, the memory will no longer have the emotional significance that it once had.
- Motivational Interviewing: Motivational interviewing is a type of therapy that was originally designed for substance abuse treatment but is also helpful when a person is resistant to treatment and/or making the changes that they need in order to live a healthy life. Most individuals who enter treatment are not in the action phase of change and may simply be contemplating change or even resisting thinking about change. Motivational interviewing is a technique that helps the therapist assess where in the change process an individual is and to match appropriate interventions to help the person move forward.
