TREATMENT
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioral therapy has become the gold standard evidenced-based practice for a variety of behavioral health conditions including depression and anxiety disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on the relationship between thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. Often thoughts are distorted and our minds are trained to think in extremes or to perceive events as overly negative without evidence that supports these thoughts. I use CBT in clinical practice to help clients become aware of their distorted thinking that maintains their anxiety and depression and come up with more accurate and realistic thoughts. I also support clients in making behavioral changes to overcome situations that are often feared and avoided due to phobias or predictions of negative outcomes.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
DBT was originally developed by Marsha Linehan for the treatment of borderline personality disorder, but has been used more frequently for the treatment of mood disorders, substance use disorders, and eating disorders. The hallmark of DBT is building a life worth living by learning the skills needed to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life. DBT consists of four modules: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. I incorporate DBT in my clinical practice to help clients become more aware of their emotions and factors that contribute to unwanted emotional experiences, while also providing them with the skills to get through the crisis and create positive change in the future.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Acceptance and commitment therapy is about valued living. The premise of ACT is that when people are living consistently with their values, they tend to feel happy and fulfilled. Sometimes life presents challenges that cannot be changed such as chronic illness, infertility, grief, loss, or divorce. It is common to want to fight against these painful realities. However, it often ends up leading to more pain and long-term suffering. I use ACT to help clients reconnect with their values, accept painful life realities, and work towards valued living. Acceptance-based strategies are also effective in helping individuals who suffer from unwanted and self-critical thoughts respond to these thoughts with more compassion and self-acceptance.
Stress Management Training
Stress is a normal part of life. Anything from the environment that imposes a demand on us creates stress. When we feel we do not have the resources or coping skills to deal with the demands, we start to feel distress. Stress management focuses on a variety of coping skills to help manage our internal experiences of stress, while also providing strategies to decrease the demands from the environment. I use stress management techniques to help clients decrease their physiological experiences of distress, while also developing skills to better manage or decrease stress from our environments.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), is an evidence-based cognitive behavioral approach specifically designed for individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). People with OCD struggle with intrusive or unwanted thoughts or images and also engage in physical or mental rituals (compulsions) to try to reduce the impact of these distressing thoughts. ERP helps individuals confront their feared thoughts in a graduated sequence, while decreasing rituals in order to decrease the frequency and intensity of these distressing thoughts and help individuals regain control of their lives.