How to Choose a Mental Health Therapeutic Method

As a mental health clinician, it can be difficult to choose a method which suits your personal style. Ideally a clinician wants to use a plethora of knowledge from all different aspects of the standard therapy, but some feel more comfortable picking one method.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Locate a book on therapeutic theory. Carefully read the sections on the largest and most commonly practiced therapeutic models.

2. Know the major models of therapy: Psychoanalytic, Alderian, Existential, Person-Centered, Gestalt, Reality, Behavior, Cognitive-Behavior, Feminist and Family Systems. Strive to understand the history and more importantly the method and goal of each type of therapy.

3. Inventory your personality to help choose a method that is in line with your aptitudes and personal style. Be aware of issues. If you are prone to lengthy explanations, then do not pick a primarily client centered therapy style. Or if you are non-directive, then do not go for Gestalt or Psychoanalytic styles.

4. Read examples of therapeutic models to understand how they work in practice. Ask to sit in on a therapist's session whom you admire or watch instructional videos to see how the various models work in a clinical setting.

5. Always assess the needs of your client before staying with one method. Be flexible and, as is the trend in mental health counseling lately, try an integrative method by combining therapies which work best with you and your client.

Tips & Warnings

• Using an integrative method allows for more flexibility and typically a more resonant result with the client and the healing process.
• Do not become slavish to a therapeutic method as this devotion can be detrimental to your client.
• Do not press highly complex or intense therapy models on clients who are very reserved or paranoid since this therapy can drive them away.
• Be careful not to model the method of a mentor or theory too closely. This mirroring can stifle your own individual style and cause your client and yourself more harm than good.

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Resources

• Scan a brief list on some of the different theories.
• Visit the American Psychological Association's official website.
• Here's an alphabetical listing of different theories.