In 2014, roughly 43 million adult Americans experienced a mental health problem of some kind.

Going to therapy can be incredibly helpful to work through distressing events or for people with mental health problems.

There are so many different kinds of therapy, though, how do you choose the best therapy for you?

Let’s take a look at some of the common types of therapy so you can choose your own personalized therapy method.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies (CBT)

CBT is a therapy method that helps you to identify patterns in your beliefs and feelings and learn about how these patterns might negatively impact you. A CBT therapist will help guide you to find ways to replace your negative behaviors and thought patterns with ones that are more accurate, positive, and helpful.

 If you’re interested in finding a therapist that specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy, check out these psychologists.

Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT is used to treat a wide range of conditions, such as:

• Self-harm
• Depression
• Borderline personality disorder
• Eating disorders
• Substance use disorders

There is quite a bit of overlap between DBT and CBT. The difference, though, is that DBT puts more emphasis on managing interpersonal relationships and emotions. There are four major skills that DBT helps people build, which are: distress tolerance, mindfulness, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

Behavior Therapy

As opposed to some other times of therapies, in behavioral therapy, you won’t spend very much time discussing your emotional difficulties or the unconscious reasons behind your actions. This form of therapy focuses instead on the ways you can change behavioral patterns and reactions that have been the source of distress.

There are several different subtypes of behavioral therapy. These include:

• Aversion therapy
• Systematic desensitization
• Flooding

Behavioral therapy can be a good choice for people suffering from anxiety, OCD, ADHD, substance use disorder, phobias, and a number of other conditions.

Psychodynamic Therapy

This therapy method developed out of psychoanalysis. In psychoanalysis, the client talks about anything and everything on their mind in order to uncover thought or behavior patterns that might be contributing to their issues. In this kind of therapy, it’s common to dive into your childhood, past, dreams, and fantasies.

While CBT is considered a shorter-term approach to mental health treatment, psychodynamic therapy can be a longer-term approach. It is not uncommon for patients to undergo psychoanalysis or psychodynamic treatment for years.

Humanistic Therapy

Humanistic therapy approaches the way that the choices you make are informed by your worldview. When your choices are causing you distress, humanistic therapy takes the angle that you’re the most capable person to understand your own needs and experiences.

In humanistic therapy, a therapist will help guide you to better understand your own experiences.

This therapy is useful for a number of different issues, including:

• Relationship issues
• Self-esteem issues
• Effects of trauma
• Coping with chronic health conditions
• Depression
• Feeling lost or worthless
• Substance use disorder

In a humanistic therapy session, you’ll be generally in charge or direct sessions. Your therapist is there to actively listen and ask questions, though they will occasionally step in when they feel it’s necessary.

Mindfulness-based Therapy

Mindfulness-based therapy combines meditation with talking therapy. This can help patients calm their racing minds, reduce their stress, and make changes in their life.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is a bit different from the different kinds of therapy listed so far. Also known as hypnosis or hypnotic suggestion, hypnotherapy involves the patient being put into a trance-like state of relaxation. In this trance-like state, individuals can be more receptive to suggestions and therefore can change destructive or unwanted behavior.

There are a number of conditions where hypnotherapy can be helpful. These include:

• Chronic pain
• Anxiety
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Smoking control
• Concentration problems
• Teeth grinding

It is believed that hypnotherapy works best when combined with other forms of treatment. If a patient is resistant to traditional treatments, hypnotherapy can help.

Arts Therapy

Arts therapy is a form of therapy that helps you express your feelings through artistic expression. During the process of creatively processing through drawing, painting, dance, theater, or music, you can:

• Release emotions
• Understand yourself better
• Find solutions to difficult problems

Interpersonal Therapy

This method of treating mood disorders intends to reduce the distress of a client. This is achieved by improving their social functioning and interpersonal relationships.

Interpersonal therapy was developed originally in order to treat major depressive disorder. It has since been used to treat other conditions such as:

• Perinatal depression
• Drug and alcohol addiction
• Eating disorders
• Dysthymia
• Bipolar disorder

This type of therapy is different from CBT and behavioral therapy. It only focuses on negative behaviors and thoughts that apply within interpersonal relationships. The goal of IPT is to target relationship difficulties and change relationship patterns.

Couples, Relationship, or Family Therapies

When you have issues that relate to your spouse or your family, this therapy can help you sort out difficulties. Couples or family therapy is particularly recommended if the individuals have tried therapy separately and haven’t made much progress.

Finding the Best Personalized Therapy Method For You

Finding a therapist that you feel like you can work well with can be a bit of a task. Before choosing a specific therapist, though, it’s a good idea to understand that there are a variety of therapy methods out there. Some of these methods might be better suited than others for your particular situation.

Did you find this article on finding a personalized therapy method helpful? If so, be sure to check out the rest of our blog for more informative and useful content!