Skip to main content

Counseling & Therapy MethodsWhich one is right for you?

Most of the therapists at our Center use an integrative approach. Integrative therapy combines the most effective types of counseling and psychotherapy. We tailor our approach to meet your unique needs and personal style.

Our Center provides the most effective, state-of-the-art therapies available today. These methods include:

  • Couples Therapy (Integrative)
  • Cognitive Therapy and CBT (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy)
  • Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
  • Client Centered, Humanistic, Experiential, Gestalt
  • Mindfulness Based (mind-body therapies)
  • Solution Focused and Brief Therapies
  • Hypnotherapy

Couples Therapy
Our Center combines the most effective types of couples therapy available today – this is referred to as Integrative Couples Therapy. These highly effective and proven methods include:

  1. Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) – Studies have shown EFT to be the most effective type of relationship therapy. EFT helps couples to identify and understand their relationship dance (cycles and patterns of emotional reactivity). Couples then work on a deeper understanding of underlying feelings and unmet relationship needs that drive the dance. The EFT therapist guides couples toward de-escalation (reduced fighting and conflict), reconnection, healing and compassion.
  2. Relational Life Therapy (RLT) – Developed by Terrence Real, this couples therapy tends to be more directive, with the goals of reducing conflict, fostering personal responsibility, and improving intimacy. RLT also provides a special focus on the ways in which family of origin issues affect adult relationships.
  3. Gottman Method – The Gottman Method teaches and guides couples using years of research that reveals the secrets of successful relationships. A variety of exercises such as Love Maps and conflict resolution methods are used.

Cognitive and CBT
The primary focus of cognitive therapy is on thoughts and beliefs (also known as “schemas”). CBT addresses thoughts, beliefs, and behavior change. The theory behind this approach is that our emotional reactions and life difficulties result from irrational or inappropriate ways of thinking (or rigid, ineffective patterns of behavior). Changing the way we think about things – and our ineffective behavior patterns – improves our emotional state, relationships and other aspects of life. Cognitive therapy has been shown to be effective with many life problems, especially depression and anxiety disorders.

Psychodynamic Therapy
Also known as analytically oriented psychotherapy. This widely practiced and highly effective therapy tends to focus mostly on exploration and insight. There are many types of psychodynamic therapy, including Freudian, Jungian, and other versions of depth psychology. This therapy examines unconscious or subconscious content, conflicts, defenses, and motivations. The deeper level of personal insight is effective in helping people to understand and appreciate their “true self,” to alleviate distressing emotional and psychological symptoms and to identify more effective coping mechanisms. There is an emphasis on understanding developmental influences – that is, how childhood experience shapes each individual.

Client Centered, Humanistic, Experiential
This might be considered the second generation of psychotherapy, gaining popularity in the mid-20th century. Client Centered Therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, is based on unconditional positive regard, empathy, and authenticity by the counselor or therapist. Humanistic therapies emphasize our basic ability to make rational choices in life, and to realize our true potential. Experiential and Gestalt therapies (including psychodrama, existential therapy and others) focus on the here and now, acceptance, free-will, and the meaning of life and experience.

Mindfulness Based Therapy
Mindfulness and mind-body therapies stem from Eastern or Buddhist Psychology. Mindfulness is present moment awareness without judgment – a state of focused open attention to one’s self, other people, and one’s surroundings. Mind-body practice is useful in finding peace and serenity in a stressful life. Mindfulness practice is an important tool in most of the mind-body, holistic approaches to emotional and psychological healing. Principles and methods such as non-reactivity, breathing exercises and meditation and emotional detachment are central to this approach.

Solution Focused & Brief Therapies
These short-term therapies – usually 6-12 sessions – are goal-oriented, and focused on specific problems, conflicts, and decisions. The focus is mostly on the present and the future – with little attention paid to past events such as childhood experiences. Competencies, abilities, and the belief that change is possible are central to this approach.

  • Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) – Solution focused brief therapy (SFBT) assumes that most problems occur in human interaction, and solutions lie in changing these reactions. When one part of a person’s life changes, other parts tend to follow suit. SFBT comes from a positive position and is solution building rather than problem solving. Clients are respected for their strength and resilience. The therapist uses the client’s present resources and visions to build solutions.
  • EMDR – Another specialized type of brief therapy is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for trauma recovery.

Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy can be utilized as a part of the therapy process for emotional, psychosocial, and physical difficulties. It is often most effective when the client feels “stuck” or to enhance change in the therapy process. Hypnotherapy aims to facilitate subconscious and internal awareness that can be useful in facilitating inner exploration, which aides in automatic changes. A level beyond an individual’s normal state of awareness is explored to aid in achieving goals, decrease emotional and/or physical discomfort, and improve wellness.

The counselors and therapists at the Relationship Center of South Florida have many years of advanced training and experience in these and other therapeutic approaches. For additional information, or to set up an appointment, contact us today.