Preferred Modalities

Schema Therapy is a relational therapy which seeks to understand current difficulties by understanding the origins in the person’s past. It asserts that our reactions in the present are the result of unmet needs when younger. In order to protect from this pain, different coping modes emerge (similar to Fight, Flight or Freeze). However, whilst intended to protect, as we grow, they reach a point where they might start to cause more difficulties than they prevent.

In therapy we would seek to understand the schemas and the coping modes, and explore ways in which to help a person develop healthier ways to cope. This will involve some experiential component such as chair work or image rescripting – this allows the person to connect more powerfully with the underlying emotion leading to longer lasting change.

EMDR was initially developed to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the context of a single event trauma. However much has developed in this area and it is now routinely used to treat a wide variety of clinical and non-clinical presentations.

This treatment uses the brain’s natural ability to heal, and helps to bypass our tendency to overthink situations or in essence, get in our own way of healing! This is achieved through the use of bilateral stimulation which might be following the therapist’s fingers or a light bar, whilst bringing a traumatic memory to mind. This serves to tax the working memory and allows the brain to reprocess the memory. Clients have described it as a memory shifting from colour to black and white or turning down the emotional connection of the memory.

This therapy derives from systems theory which suggests that parts of a system influence each other, and that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. In life we will often find ourselves in different systems such as families, teams at work, religious, sports or politic settings. We might notice that our behaviour shifts depending on the system which we are in. Using the understanding suggested above, we seek to understand a person’s behaviour in the context of the system as opposed to focusing on the person in isolation.

DBT is a skills based therapy which focuses on building up skills across four different areas: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotional Regulation and Interpersonal Effectiveness. Whilst this was first developed for working with a specific population, over the last several years this scope has broaden with the effectiveness of this skills being appreciated more.