Tag Archives: cognitive therapy

Mind Tricks

Posted by: Curtis Stevens on January 9, 2012 12:22 pm

This blogging thing, leads me in many different directions.  I’ve been thinking about my progression… evolution as a “cognitive therapist.”  I still hang onto that title, though, somewhere may have forgotten completely what that means.  My focus has been, and will likely always be,  about  the mental juggle that we all have going on in our brain.  We have random thoughts, thinking errors, mind chatter, under-currents all going on simultaneously with the actual “things” we have to think about throughout our day.  It is often this jumble of thoughts that get us into trouble mentally, emotionally, and behaviourally.  It may be truly dangerous that my thinking has been allowed to evolve without “supervision” to keep me in check.  My evolution has lead me into the world of solution focused thinking, clinical hypnosis and mindfulness… none of which are a far stones throw away from pure cognitive therapy.  I added thinking to the end of solution focussed in replacement of therapy, because I don’t just see it as a therapy, but, truly a way of perceiving things and, I as I see the clients thoughts in a certain way, I tend to manipulate my clients into seeing things a certain way (I’ve touched on this in a previous blog).

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Types of Psychotherapy: Psychodynamics vs. Cognitive-behavioral

Posted by: Maritza Rodriguez on May 17, 2011 8:54 am

There are many orientations when it comes to psychotherapy. The psychotherapist’s approach to therapy depends on several factors to include the counsellor’s personality, the main orientation and training of the university attended and any specialization in their professional development over their time of practice.  As psychology has matured, the number of orientations has increased but here we will articulate regarding two commonly identified psychotherapeutic approaches: psychodynamics and cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Psychodynamics was originated by Sigmund Freud, father of modern psychology and further developed by Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. The primary focus is to reveal the unconscious content of a client’s psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension. It is usually a long-term approach to therapy, processing and identifying how maladaptive and unconscious conflicts originating in childhood experiences lead to current psychopathological behavior and thoughts. Major techniques used by psychodynamic therapists include free association, recognizing resistance and transference, working through painful memories and difficult issues, catharsis, and building a strong therapeutic alliance.

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA