Each year, one out of every five people in the United States has a mental health disorder or episode. We know that when people with these issues are unable to get the treatment they need, their suffering continues or even worsens. In some cases, people with untreated mental illness lose important relationships, jobs, and other vital parts of their lives.

That’s why we are honored to offer many treatment options for individuals with mental health disorders. We treat each patient as an individual and help them find the right mix of treatment options to fit their needs.

In some cases, people only need medication in order to heal. However, other clients do not tolerate medication well or need additional interventions to start feeling better. That’s why we offer non-drug treatments such as:

  • Psychotherapy
  • Couples’ Therapy
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Family Counseling
  • Other types of therapy

Below, you will find some important information on each of these types of counseling. While this information can help you make decisions about your treatment options and plan, only a trained professional can determine which type of therapy would help.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is the foundation on which all other non-medication mental health treatments are built. In psychotherapy, counselors identify each client’s needs and root their responses in empathy. Together, the client and therapist promote healing by identifying unhealthy patterns and replacing them with healthier coping mechanisms.

Every psychotherapy session is different and may vary depending on the therapist’s approach, mental illness in question, and the client’s needs that week. However, most sessions seek to help patients:

  • Find and highlight the person’s natural strengths
  • Learn about the client’s triggers and symptoms
  • Discover useful coping mechanisms for triggers
  • Learn how past trauma affects current mental health

Depending the person’s needs and schedule, they may attend therapy weekly or monthly. This occurs for at least six months, or until the patient and counselor feel comfortable with the progress. Those who are in residential care receive daily psychotherapy. After initial treatment is complete, many people continue to see their therapists occasionally to get help with difficult life events.

Types of Psychotherapy

The term “psychotherapy” covers several different types of therapy, each with their own distinctive goals and methods. Counselors can try different kinds of psychotherapy depending on each patients’ diagnosis. Our therapists can choose from any of the following methods to help patients:

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): used for anxiety disorders, low self-esteem, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, schizophrenia, and depression
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and comorbid mental health issues
  • Interpersonal Therapy: used for depression, substance abuse, and eating disorders
  • Humanistic Therapy: used for anxiety and depression
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): used for PTSD
  • Exposure Therapy: used for agoraphobia and other specific phobias
  • Mentallization-Based Therapy: used for borderline personality disorder
  • Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: used for anxiety disorders, depression, and borderline personality disorder

Depending on the patient’s needs, counselors can combine a few of these kinds of psychotherapy in order to use a personalized approach. It’s important for patients and their loved ones to remember that although psychotherapy is a vital part of treatment, it is often just one piece of the puzzle. Depending on the person’s diagnosis, they may also need medication, TMS, or lifestyle changes as part of their treatment plan.

Psychoanalysis

The term “psychoanalysis” often conjure up images of Sigmund Freud passing judgement on patients while he smokes his pipe. It’s true that Freud was instrumental in developing the early types of psychoanalysis. However, the treatment has gone through many important changes since then.

Psychoanalysis is a type of non-medication treatment in which patients uncover problems in their pasts and use those experiences to move forward with their lives in healthier ways. While psychoanalysis is a type of psychotherapy, it differs quite a lot from other types. During psychoanalysis sessions, counselors and patients uncover deep-rooted problems from the patient’s past life and try to understand how it might affect the patient in the present.

The main goal of psychoanalysis to to help patients understand themselves in a more meaningful way. This understanding can help patients form deeper relationships and sustain mentally healthy lives.

Who Should Get Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis can help many different kinds of people, including patients with chronic mental illnesses. It can also help people whose symptoms stem from trauma that occurred many years ago, including in their childhood. However, psychoanalysis is less effective for people who develop mental illness in response to more recent trauma.

Sadly, some people believe they shouldn’t undergo psychoanalysis because they don’t think their symptoms or past experiences are “bad enough” to warrant it.This way of thinking is not only inaccurate, but it’s also harmful. The truth is that all people who experience mental illness deserve treatment.

Sometimes, it can be tempting to try psychoanalysis on yourself. We encourage patients to avoid this, however. Professionals have years of training that allow them to do this type of work without causing more harm. Better yet, psychoanalysts can be a third-party observer with no emotional ties to the memories that come up, which is paramount when analyzing past events.

Couples Therapy

While couples therapy often involves two people in a romantic relationship, it can benefit people in any type of important relationship. A parent and child can seek therapy together, for example. Couples therapy typically involves two people seeing a counselor at the same time to work through their interpersonal issues. However, the two clients may also see the counselor separately.

Who Should Go to Couples Therapy

In pop culture and common discourse, couples therapy is often seen as a last-ditch effort to save a failing romantic relationship. In some cases, couples do seek this type of therapy only when they get to the point of needing a hail-mary attempt. However, people may also seek couples therapy when they are in healthy relationships. Couples therapy can serve as either an intervention into a difficult situation or maintenance to help couples prevent future issues.

Sometimes other misconceptions about couples therapy keep people from seeking this kind of help. For example, some individuals worry that the counselor will just take the other person’s side. It’s important to know that compassionate therapists do not take this approach. Doing that wouldn’t help solve any of the problems and it would make at least one person feel worse.

Instead, counselors act as a neutral third-party in couples counseling. They ask questions that facilitate healthy communication between partners.

Family Therapy

Family therapy requires several individuals who have pre-existing relationships to see a counselor together. For example, if one person in a family has a severe mental illness, the whole family may see a counselor to learn how best to support one another. Family therapy can also help families going through divorce or traumatic events together.

What to Expect in Family Therapy

The first thing a family therapist will do is try to understand the relationships between everyone involved. The counselor will also ask what brought everyone to this point and what they all hope to accomplish. Generally, people do not see family counselors for as long as they go to individual therapy, but every case is different.

In the event of an acute problem, the family therapist will start giving the group healthy coping mechanisms for that issue. It may also be the sole focus of several sessions. Therapists eventually try to get to some of the root issues and facilitate healthier bonds between all attendees.

When Family Counseling Can Help

People can benefit from family counseling when they share a trauma together. Examples include attending therapy after the passing of a loved one, when parents are getting divorced, or after being victims of a natural disaster.

Other families may need help coping with a mental illness diagnosis of one member. After all, these symptoms often affect everyone who loves the patients as well. Families sometimes seek counseling to support a loved one with borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, substance abuse problems, or behavioral issues.