Mental health therapy provides a safe, supportive space to explore your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, or relationship struggles, different approaches to therapy can help you heal, grow, and build resilience.
At Lighthouse Emotional Wellness Center, our licensed therapists use evidence-based methods tailored to your unique needs. Many of our counselors also utilize an integrative or holistic approach, blending elements from different therapeutic models to create a personalized treatment plan that best suits the client’s unique needs.
Below are some of the most common types of therapy we offer.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Focus: Explores the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The core idea is that unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors contribute to psychological problems.
- Method: Therapists work with clients to identify and challenge negative or irrational thoughts and then develop healthier coping strategies and behavioral patterns.
- Effective for: A wide array of conditions, including anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, OCD, and schizophrenia.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Focus: A specialized form of CBT that emphasizes emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness. It aims to help clients find a balance between acceptance and change.
- Method: Often involves both individual therapy and group skills training sessions.
- Effective for: Primarily developed for individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), but also used for those with self-harm behaviors, chronic suicidal ideation, and intense emotional dysregulation.
Psychodynamic Therapy
- Focus: Explores how past experiences, particularly from childhood, and unconscious processes influence current behaviors, thoughts, and feelings.
- Method: Therapists help clients gain insight into their unconscious patterns and resolve internal conflicts, often through open-ended discussions and exploration of the therapeutic relationship.
- Effective for: Depression, anxiety disorders, BPD, and other mental illnesses.
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
- Focus: Concentrates on improving a person’s relationships with others and their interpersonal skills. The idea is that difficulties in relationships can contribute to mental health issues.
- Method: Therapists help clients evaluate their social interactions, recognize negative patterns (e.g., social isolation, aggression), and learn strategies to enhance communication and social skills.
- Effective for: Most often used for depression, but can be beneficial for other conditions too.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Focus: Primarily used to treat PTSD and other trauma-related conditions. It aims to alleviate distress associated with traumatic memories.
- Method: Involves the client recalling a traumatic event while performing specific eye movements or other bilateral stimulation.
- Effective for: PTSD.
Humanistic Therapies (e.g., Person-Centered Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Existential Therapy)
- Focus: Emphasize personal growth, self-fulfillment, and the individual’s capacity to make rational choices. They highlight concepts like self-acceptance, free will, and finding meaning.
- Method: Client-centered therapy focuses on empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence from the therapist to create a supportive environment. Gestalt therapy emphasizes awareness of the “here and now.”Existential therapy explores fundamental questions about life, death, and meaning.
- Effective for: Promoting personal growth, self-discovery, and addressing issues related to identity and meaning.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Focus: Helps individuals accept unwanted thoughts and feelings rather than trying to eliminate them. It emphasizes mindfulness and commitment to values-driven actions.
- Method: Teaches skills to recognize and be mindful of emotions, and then to make behavioral changes that align with what is important to the individual.
- Effective for: Anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance use disorders, and chronic pain.
Family Therapy
- Focus: Addresses issues that arise within the family unit, aiming to improve communication, resolve conflicts, and strengthen relationships.
- Method: Involves multiple family members in sessions to explore how their interactions impact each individual’s mental health.
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT): Future-oriented and focuses on identifying strengths and resources to find solutions rather than dwelling on problems.
