Creating Happier Futures

Gestalt

Gestalt therapy addresses what is happening in the moment, bringing into awareness an individual’s representation of the self, his/her responses and interactions with others. The belief is that to be fully present in the here and now creates within the client the potential for more excitement, energy, and the courage to live life directly. A Gestalt therapist looks at how the individual resists contact in the here and now, how they resist change, and certain behaviours or symptoms that the client regards as undesirable or unsatisfactory. The skilled Gestalt therapist makes effective and efficient interventions to bring the client into awareness of not only what is happening and what is being said but also body language and repressed feelings. Gestalt techniques often include acting out scenarios and dream recall. 

(UK Council for Psycotherapy)

Cognitive

Cognitive therapy is based on the theory that your previous experiences can damage your perception of yourself, which can affect your attitudes, emotions and your ability to deal with certain situations. It can help you to identify, question and change poor mental images of yourself, so guiding you away from negative responses and behaviour. It can help pessimistic or depressed people to view things from a more optimistic perspective. 

(British Association of Counsellors and Psycotherapists)

Transactional Analysis

Transactional analysis (TA) is an integrative approach to psychotherapy that draws on all the major traditions of psychology while being firmly grounded in a humanistic philosophy, which holds the value and equality of human beings, their motivation and their potential. The principles of practice that emerge from this philosophy concern mutual commitment in the therapeutic contract, the  empowerment of the client, the transparent use of accessible theory, and belief in self-responsibility and change.

The name ‘transactional analysis’ refers to the analysis of how people communicate and relate to each other (how they ‘transact’). TA uses observation of here and now interchanges (the interpersonal) in order to improve communication and relationships and also as a route to understanding personality (the intrapsychic or internal world).

The analysis of the transactions is based on Eric Berne’s theory of ego states – Parent, Adult and Child – three different ways of being that shape our internal world and our behaviour. These ego states are often developed in the past and re-created in the present, maintaining old and unhelpful patterns, which can be brought into awareness and made available for change. It is interesting that Berne named the approach for the interpersonal element of human experience. It is an acknowledgement both of the impact of relationship in shaping personality and also, supported by the psychotherapy outcome research, the centrality of the therapeutic alliance in creating insight and change.

(UK Council for Psycotherapy)

Psychodynamic

Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a term that encompasses therapy of an analytical nature; essentially it is a form of depth psychology that focuses on the unconscious and past experiences, to determine current behaviour.

The client is encouraged to talk about childhood relationships with parents and other significant people, the primary focus being to reveal the unconscious content of a client’s psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension. The therapist endeavours to keep his own personality out of the picture, in essence becoming a blank canvas onto which the client can transfer and project deep feelings about themselves, parents and other significant players in their life. The therapist remains focused on the dynamics between the client and the therapist.

Psychodynamic therapy tends to be less intensive and briefer than psychoanalysis, and also relies more on the interpersonal relationship between client and therapist than do other forms of depth psychology. It is a focus that has been used in individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, family therapy, and to understand and work with institutional and organisational contexts.

(UK Council for Psycotherapy)