Some friends and family members are great listeners and may give advice that works. However, a psychologist has the skills and training to help you to improve your mental health without risking any possible damage to your personal relationships.
The therapeutic relationship is fundamentally different to a friendship, and, in most circumstances, confidential. Psychologists have ethical and legal responsibilities to protect your rights to confidentially and privacy. There are, however, occasions when psychologists are legally required to disclose information, for example, if they believe you, or someone else, is at risk of harm.
Here are some aspects of therapy that go beyond the kind of chatting you may do with a friend or family member:
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a relatively short term, focused approach to the treatment of many types of emotional, behavioural, and psychiatric problems. The application of CBT varies according to the problem being addressed, but is essentially a collaborative and individualised program that helps individuals to identify unhelpful thoughts and behaviours and learn or relearn healthier skills and habits. CBT has been practised widely for more than 30 years. It has been researched extensively, and has demonstrated effectiveness with a variety of emotional psychological and psychiatric difficulties. It is also continually evolving, and third wave CBT therapies such as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Schema Therapy and others are increasingly being used for a variety of emotional, behavioural and psychiatric problems.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, known as ‘ACT’ (and pronounced as the word ‘act’) is a mindfulness based behavioural therapy. ACT challenges may of the ground rules of most Western psychology. It utilizes an mix of metaphor, paradox, and mindfulness skills, along with a wide range of experiential exercises and values-guided behavioural interventions. ACT has proven effective with various clinical conditions including: Anxiety, Depression, OCD, workplace stress, chronic pain, and PTSD.
The goal of ACT is to allow the individual to create a rich and meaningful life, while accepting the pain that inevitably goes with life.
Jungian Sandplay or ‘Sandplay’ first emerged as a therapeutic method in the 1950s. Sandplay therapy may be offered in conjunction with “talk-based therapy”, such as CBT. Sandplay is a creative way of working with symbols, small figures, and miniatures in conjunction with a tray of sand. Sandplay can be a deeply inspiring and transformative therapy where the symbols are used by the client to tell their story, express their feelings and emotions, and explore their inner world. Essentially the client creates a story that can be processed verbally or non-verbally, with the processing of the sandtray continuing long after the session has ended The non-verbal aspect of sandplay make this form of therapy an excellent form of therapy for children, though sandplay is recognised as a form of therapy for any age group. Traumatic events, for any age group, can be processed in the sand without the need for telling the story verbally.