Evidence-Based Therapy
Athena Care psychologists and licensed psychotherapists have a wide range of expertise, and use different approaches to therapy depending on your symptoms, circumstances and personal preferences. These approaches act as roadmaps for understanding and solving the issues you face.
Athena Care therapists specialize in evidence-based methods such as:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) combines mindfulness skills with the practice of self-acceptance. It helps people learn to accept the negative feelings that they have about difficult situations and commit to facing and problem-solving those situations. People engaging in this type of therapy allow themselves to feel what they feel, even if it’s negative. They work toward accepting what is out of their control and put energy into behaviors that improve their lives. ACT is often used to treat anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and addiction. It also is useful in helping people with chronic medical conditions manage their stress.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps people identify and change negative thinking in order to respond more effectively to challenging situations. It is particularly well-suited for people dealing with specific issues who appreciate a goal-oriented approach, and it often requires fewer sessions than other types of therapy. CBT is often used to treat conditions including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder and addiction.
NEW!
Athena Care now offers virtual CBT groups for insomnia (CBT-I). This is a short-term, structured group that helps you learn evidence-based strategies to get better sleep. Learn more here.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy often used with people who engage in self-destructive behaviors and have trouble regulating their emotions. It teaches people a variety of skills to improve symptoms and functioning, such as mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotion regulation.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is often used to help people suffering from trauma-related symptoms to change the way trauma memories are stored in the brain. During a session, the patient thinks about a specific trauma memory while experiencing bilateral stimulation (watching, hearing or feeling something alternate between the left and right sides of one’s body). It generally is administered 1-2 times per week for a total of 6-12 sessions.
Family Systems Therapy
Family Systems Therapy helps people resolve problems in the context of their family units. The therapist examines the reciprocal influence between individual behavior and the family as a whole and helps family members improve communication, coping and conflict-resolution skills. As each family member gains skills, the family unit experiences more positive interactions, which helps reduce individual distress and problematic behavior.
Interpersonal Psychotherapy
Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a short-term, focused treatment approach that works to reduce distress by improving the quality of interpersonal relationships and social functioning. IPT aims to change relationship patterns rather than mood-related symptoms because interpersonal difficulties are often prevalent in mental health disorders and improved relationships can provide necessary support during the recovery process. Studies suggest that IPT is effective in treating mood disorders, eating disorders and addiction.
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based treatment for children ages 2 to 7 experiencing behavioral, emotional and interpersonal issues. Parents are taught techniques to strengthen the parent-child bond and to reinforce the child’s positive behaviors and decrease the child’s negative behaviors. In session, the parent plays with the child and practices the techniques while receiving real-time coaching (via earpiece) from the therapist who observes from another room. Consistent use of these parenting techniques can improve the parent-child relationship and the child’s emotional and behavioral issues.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy focuses on self-reflection, self-examination and the patient-therapist relationship to improve a patient’s symptoms and quality of life. The therapist will look for recurring patterns, and the underlying behaviors that contribute to those patterns, in order to help the patient to change unhelpful tendencies and engage in the world more effectively. Psychodynamic therapy puts particular emphasis on the therapeutic relationship and how it reflects the ways a patient relates to family and loved ones outside of therapy.