Behavioral Therapy
Unlike cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy focuses on thoughts and the need to promote changes in those behaviors that are harmful or maladaptive for the person.
The goal is for the person to choose which behaviors are positive or effective in interacting with the environment. Therefore, it is an action-based therapy that does not go so deeply into the deepest causes that lead to undesirable behavior but instead focuses on the current forms of behavior and how these can be modified.
Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy
As a result of a combination of cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy (CBT) appeared. The professionals who followed these currents realized that both thoughts and behaviors strongly impact our emotional state and that these are not entities that act separately.
Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy teaches the person that both thoughts and behaviors impact him and his environment, so this type of therapy aims to identify and evaluate learned behaviors and the dynamics of thought. Negative to modify them effectively and adaptively.
Rational Emotive Psychotherapy
Within the cognitive school, we find a little-known therapy called rational emotive psychotherapy. This type of therapy is characterized by the fact that the patient must use reason and logic to identify distorted and negative thoughts and modify them to convert them into constructive thoughts that improve the effective state of the patient.
Gestalt Therapy
Unlike previous therapies, Gestalt therapy stems from an entirely different school of thought, the Gestalt school. This psychological current defends the principle of relational theory, according to which each individual is a whole made up of body, mind, and soul.
The main objective of Gestalt therapy is to promote self-awareness free of value judgments and to enable clients to create a unique perspective on their lives. According to the theoretical framework of this type of therapy, sometimes this self-perception can be blocked by maladaptive thought patterns, which cause the person to develop negative or distressing effects.
Brief Strategic Therapy.
Strategic brief therapy is part of the so-called humanistic psychological school; it is a relatively new type of therapy that focuses mainly on creating solutions to specific problems, leaving aside the deepest roots of the problem.
The main advantage of strategic brief therapy is, as its name suggests, its brevity; since it does not usually require more than 20 therapy sessions. These sessions eliminate the person’s problematic behaviors and modify how the patient constructs his reality.
Full Attention Or Mindfulness
Mindfulness is not about psychological therapy as such, but about a type of thinking technique that allows us to connect directly with the present, paying attention to what is happening at present and thus reducing feelings of anxiety.
Through mindfulness, the person learns to know how to wait, put priorities in order, and control or manage negative reactions and day-to-day stress.
Logotherapy
Another of the main types of psychological therapy which is not well known by people is logotherapy. This type of therapy was created after World War II by the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who spent part of his life imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp.
Experiential Therapy
Finally, experiential therapy is another type of humanistic therapy that places each person as a unique and different being searching for transcendental meaning.
In this type of therapy, the role of emotions is highlighted as the main element with which to work in therapy sessions. It seeks to modify and restructure behaviors and beliefs subject to said emotions to achieve this.