Therapy in Toronto: Choosing the Right Approach for Your Needs
When looking for a therapist, there are a few factors to consider, like the therapist’s age, gender, and/or ethnicity, whether the therapist will attend online or in person, and availability for scheduling. But perhaps one of the most daunting, mysterious, or influential questions is: What kind of approach are you looking for?
Like many things, therapy is not one-size-fits-all. While you do not need to be an expert in psychology to find a therapist, having a general idea of what is effective for the problems you are working on or what sort of general approach you are hoping for can help narrow your search. Here is a quick overview of five common approaches and the kinds of problems they can help with.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Without even trying or really noticing, we tend to speak in “parts.” For example, we might say, " A part of me wants to talk to X, but another part of me feels scared to try.” In IFS, the client and clinician explore the various “parts” within the client that ultimately try their best to help the client navigate the world, effectively or ineffectively.
IFS therapy might focus on memories or feelings from childhood, or more recent memories, emotions, and behaviours that cause distress. IFS (sometimes called parts-work) can be helpful for depression, family of origin issues, trauma, PTSD, and substance use (Haddock et al., 2017; Hodgdon et al., 2021).
You may benefit if: You would like to talk about childhood trauma and/or more recent conflicting feelings, unhelpful behaviours, and trauma.
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)
If you’ve ever done something when you felt “not yourself” or “not in your right mind,” DBT could be helpful! DBT therapy focuses on developing coping strategies to help you access your inner wisdom so you can act skillfully.
Acting skillfully means balancing logic and emotion rather than getting swept up and acting based on emotions. There are four main skill areas in DBT: mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance.
DBT has been shown to help with borderline personality disorder, PTSD and trauma, suicidal ideation, self-harm, depression, anxiety, and emotional disregulation (Delaquis et al., 2022; Prillinger et al., 2024).
You may benefit if you’re looking for tangible skills to help you regulate your emotions and maintain healthy relationships in the present.
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
If you want an approach focusing more on the body, you might be interested in SE! While many therapy approaches focus first on subject matter or storytelling, SE is more of a “bottom-up” approach.
This means that there is a focus on identifying and releasing internal and external bodily sensations to heal from your experiences. SE can be helpful for somatic (body) concerns in traumatized and non-traumatized people, PTSD, and may help alleviate depressive symptoms (Brom et al., 2017; Kuhfuß et al., 2021).
You may benefit if you want a less cognitive approach to therapy and want to tune in to what your body is telling you.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and commitment therapy is referred to as ACT not only as an acronym but also because of its focus on helping you act in alignment with your values! Aptly named, ACT can help with rumination and overthinking by helping you to accept thoughts and feelings beyond your control.
With ACT, you can become more aware of the thoughts and emotions that hold you back so you can live like your ideal self, ultimately bringing you closer to a life that feels fulfilling and meaningful for you. ACT has shown efficacy with anxiety disorders, chronic illness/pain, depression, substance use, and general well-being (A-Tjak et al., 2015; Gloster et al., 2020).
You may benefit if you tend to overthink, avoid, or hold onto thoughts/feelings and/or want to identify your values to pursue a fulfilling life.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
If you have heard of any of these approaches, this is the one! CBT focuses less on unpacking your history and more on how your everyday thoughts and deep-rooted beliefs can affect how you feel.
A meta-analysis of CBT found that CBT was most effective for anxiety disorders, bulimia, anger, chronic illness, and general stress (Hofman et al., 2012). When working with a CBT therapist, you might focus on identifying and reframing maladaptive cognitions or cognitive biases such as all-or-nothing thinking, automatic thoughts, catastrophizing, or fortune-telling - to name a few.
You may benefit if you are not looking to focus on your past but would like to change your tendency to think upsetting or unhelpful thoughts.
Finding the Right Approach
If you are still unsure which approach would be best for you, please reach out, and we’d be happy to help you find the right fit! At Ontario Counselling and Psychotherapy, we have a range of therapists and social workers from different backgrounds who offer these five approaches and more.
Many therapists have various skills and can incorporate aspects from multiple approaches, depending on what works best for you. While finding an approach that fits can be helpful, you certainly do not have to know precisely what you are looking for right away.
When it comes to getting support for your mental health, what matters most is taking the time to understand and care for yourself, along with the support of a non-judgmental, caring professional. We are here when you are ready to talk!
Sources
A-Tjak, J. G., Davis, M. L., Morina, N., Powers, M. B., Smits, J. A., & Emmelkamp, P. M. (2015). A meta-analysis of the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy for clinically relevant mental and physical health problems. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 84(1), 30-36.
Brom, D., Stokar, Y., Lawi, C., Nuriel-Porat, V., Ziv, Y., Lerner, K. & Ross, G. (2017). Somatic experiencing for posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized controlled outcome study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 30, 304-312.
Delaquis, C. P., Joyce, K. M., Zalewski, M., Katz, L. Y., Sulymka, J., Agostinho, T., & Roos, L. E. (2022). Dialectical behaviour therapy skills training groups for common mental health disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 300, 305–313.
Gloster, A. T., Walder, N., Levin, M .E., Twohig, M . P., & Karekla, M. (2020). The empirical status of acceptance and commitment therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Journal of Contextual Behavioural Science, 18, 181-192.
Haddock, S. A., Weiler, L. M., Trump, L. J., & Henry, K. L. (2017). The efficacy of internal family systems therapy in the treatment of depression among female college students: A pilot study. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 43(1), 131–144.
Hofmann, S. G., Asnaani, A., Vonk, I. J., Sawyer, A. T., & Fang, A. (2012). The efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy Research, 36(5), 427–440.
Hodgdon, H. B., Anderson, F. G., Southwell, E., Hrubec, W., & Schwartz, R. (2021). Internal family systems (IFS) therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among survivors of multiple childhood trauma: A pilot effectiveness study. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 31(1), 22–43.
Kuhfuß, M., Maldei, T., Hetmanek, A., & Baumann, N. (2021). Somatic experiencing - effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy: A scoping literature review. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 12(1).
Prillinger, K., Goreis, A., Macura, S., Hajek Gross, C., Lozar, A., Fanninger, S.,Mayer, A., Oppenauer, C., Plener, P. L., & Kothgassner, O. D. (2024). A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of dialectical behaviour therapy variants for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 15(1).