Therapy approaches, plainly explained

Getting through a hard period, not taking it apart

Strengthens the coping you already have and keeps life running during acute stress, illness, caring or bereavement. A deliberate choice rather than a lesser one, and the right one when exploratory work would destabilise more than it helps.

For the questions that have no technique: meaning, mortality, freedom

Takes seriously the difficulties that are not symptoms of anything: a life that has stopped making sense, a diagnosis, a bereavement, the freedom to choose and the weight that comes with it. British existential therapy has a distinct school and a long lineage.

Built for shame and self-criticism, where CBT can stall

Paul Gilbert's UK-developed approach for people whose inner critic is too loud to out-argue. Works on the threat, drive and soothing systems rather than on the logic of a thought, because shame runs on a threat response rather than faulty reasoning.

The pattern underneath the symptom, not just the symptom

Works on the recurring relational patterns beneath a difficulty rather than the difficulty in isolation, using the therapeutic relationship itself as live material. Slower and more exploratory than CBT, and suited to people who keep arriving at the same place with different people.

The most genuinely brief structured therapy, often 5 to 8 sessions

Starts from where you want to get to rather than what went wrong. The miracle question and scaling questions turn a vague wish to feel better into a workable goal and a number you can track. Not the right tool for complex trauma.

The family: person-centred, gestalt, existential, transactional analysis

A family of approaches sharing one assumption: that people are whole, self-directed and already oriented toward growth, and that a genuine relationship is what makes change possible rather than a protocol applied to a diagnosis.

Plain-English tools for the arguments that keep repeating

Parent, Adult and Child ego states give concrete, everyday language for why certain conversations go the same way every time, and a way to interrupt them rather than only describe them.

NICE first-line for anxiety, depression, OCD, panic, PTSD

The most rigorously evidenced talking therapy in the world. Structured, time-limited, well-suited to anxiety, depression, OCD and panic. NHS Talking Therapies offers it; BABCP-accredited specialists are the gold standard for CBT in the UK.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing - for trauma and PTSD

NICE recommends EMDR alongside trauma-focused CBT as first-line treatment for adult PTSD. Increasingly used for anxiety, phobias, and depression with traumatic roots. Look for therapists accredited by the EMDR UK & Ireland Association.

Sue Johnson's attachment-based therapy - particularly for couples

One of the strongest evidence bases in couples therapy: meta-analyses show 70-75% of distressed couples move into the non-distressed range after EFT. Also extends to individuals (EFIT). ICEEFT maintains a directory if you need a formally certified practitioner.

Treats the family as the unit of change - AFT-registered therapists

When the difficulty lives in family relationships rather than one individual: parent-child issues, adolescent struggles, eating disorders (Maudsley FBT is NICE first-line for adolescent anorexia), step-family transitions.

Treats people in their relational and cultural context

The frame family therapy is built on, applied more broadly. Works with individuals, couples, families, organisations - anywhere a difficulty lives in patterns rather than one person. AFT-registered, master's-level training.

Trained in two or more modalities - CBT + psychodynamic, humanistic + relational, etc.

Most experienced therapists work integratively in practice. Integrative training formalises this - the therapist holds a coherent framework for using multiple approaches together. Particularly suited to multi-layered or chronic difficulties.

Alfred Adler's Individual Psychology - holistic, social, lifestyle-focused

A small but coherent UK community of Adlerian-trained therapists. Holistic, encouragement-based, and oriented to private logic and lifestyle patterns. Particularly suited to long-running patterns and life-direction work.

Long-term, depth-oriented work on patterns, relationships, and the unconscious

Distinctive long-term outcome data: 'sleeper effects' show people continuing to improve after therapy ends. BPC-, BPS- or UKCP-registered. Multiple traditions: Freudian, Kleinian, Independent, Jungian, Lacanian, intersubjective.

Strong evidence for IBS, phobias, smoking, sleep - honest about what it can and can't do

NICE-recommended for irritable bowel syndrome (gut-directed hypnotherapy). Strong evidence for phobias and smoking cessation. Modern UK practice usually combines hypnotherapy with CBT (cognitive hypnotherapy). GHR or NCH registered.

Carl Rogers' humanistic approach - being heard, not fixed

The relational, non-directive tradition that underpins much of UK counselling training. PCE-CfD (the manualised version) is NICE-recommended for mild-to-moderate depression and offered through NHS Talking Therapies. Best-suited to self-worth, identity, life transitions and grief. BACP-aligned.

Stop wrestling the thought, start living by what matters

Builds psychological flexibility rather than arguing with thoughts: unhooking from them, making room for difficult feelings, and choosing action from your own values. A third-wave cognitive behavioural approach with a solid research base, smaller than CBT's.

Skills for emotions that arrive at full volume

Marsha Linehan's structured approach pairing acceptance with change across four skills modules. The strongest evidence of any therapy for self-harm and borderline personality disorder. Note the difference between a full DBT programme and the DBT-informed individual work most private therapists offer.

What is happening right now, in the room, rather than the story about it

Experiential and present-focused, using experiment rather than interpretation: the empty chair, awareness of what the body is doing while you speak, unfinished business made live. Suits people who have talked about their problems for years without much shifting. Its trial evidence is thin compared with CBT.

Changing your relationship to thoughts, not their content

MBCT is NICE-recommended specifically for preventing relapse in recurrent depression, which is a narrower and stronger claim than mindfulness helping everything. Covers MBSR, MBCT and mindfulness woven into individual therapy, and where it needs careful pacing.

For when part of you wants to change and part of you does not

Miller and Rollnick's collaborative style for working with ambivalence rather than against it. Usually a way of working or a brief intervention alongside another therapy rather than a full course in itself. Strongest evidence in substance use, health behaviour change and treatment engagement.

When words are the hardest part

Art therapist, art psychotherapist, dramatherapist and music therapist are protected titles in the UK, regulated by the HCPC, which is a real and checkable distinction from creative methods used inside ordinary counselling. No artistic skill required.