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There seems to be a lot of talk these days about therapy and counseling for mental health. You may even have wondered things like, is it for me? What good would it do for my mental health? Is there research to back it up? I’m here to tell you that therapy is science-based, and it can truly help. Read on to learn about the science behind therapy and how it can benefit you.
I’m a professional therapist, and all of the types of psychological therapy I use with my clients are evidence-based. As I’ll explain below, evidence-based therapy has been tested in rigorously controlled research experiments, with statistically significant results demonstrating its effectiveness for improving mental health and reducing symptoms such as anxiety and depression.
Evidenced-based therapy for mental health
Psychological therapy can alter our brain pathways in positive ways that aid us in coping with complex life challenges. In working with a counselor who employs evidence-based therapies, you will gain a better understanding of your emotions and the connections between your emotions and behaviors. You’ll also receive the support you need to overcome and change unhealthy habits.
In my practice, I often work with clients who have various mental health struggles, such as anxiety and phobias, eating disorders, narcissistic abuse and divorce, and infidelity trauma. As a former perfectionist myself, I also specialize in treating perfectionism, which is common in high-achieving women.
Examples of evidence-based therapies I practice are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). These research-backed therapies can help you navigate difficult life obstacles and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as other mental health conditions.
When should you seek out psychological therapy?
- You are feeling anxious or depressed
- You feel a sense of hopelessness
- You are struggling to cope with a life situation
- You are going through a difficult life transition, such as a divorce or breakup
- You have difficulty carrying out daily activities
- You find yourself bottling up your emotions
How can therapy help me?
You may be wondering what therapy can help with besides allowing you to share your problems with a trusted counselor, but therapy has many benefits. You don’t have to be in the middle of a crisis to get a lot out of it.
Benefits of therapy include:
- Improved communication
- Better self-esteem
- Learning to set boundaries
- Working on habits you would like to change
- Reduced anxiety
- Reduced depression
- Reduction in unhealthy behaviors
- Experiencing lower stress levels
- Exploring worries and concerns in a safe space
- Improved coping
- Self-awareness
How therapy can change our brains
Therapy benefits our brains through a process called neuroplasticity. The technical name for brain cells is neurons, and plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change. Neuroplasticity is the process by which life experiences impact our brains, allowing us to change and adapt. Our brains change throughout our lifetime; the process of growing new neurons doesn’t stop when the rest of your body finishes growing.
Our neurons are vital for all areas of functioning, but they are involved with mental health because of the chemical messages they send to each other. These chemical messages are called neurotransmitters. Examples of neurotransmitters that affect your mental health include serotonin and dopamine.
When we encounter various life challenges or go through stressful times, our brains change in structure (Voss et al., 2017); these changes may make it difficult to cope, making anxiety and depression worse. But the flipside is that positive learning experiences, such as participating in mental health therapy, can help you overcome difficulties by building new connections between your neurons (Gorman, S. & Gorman, J.M., 2018).
In therapy, when you learn new ways of coping, the new connections built between your neurons will improve your ability to handle tough life challenges. As you learn new coping skills, your new neural connections can replace the old ones that triggered unhealthy behaviors and negative thinking.
Counseling is also thought to produce long-term changes in our behavior by strengthening our neurons’ ability to send messages to each other (Malhorta & Sahoo, 2017).
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and the brain
One therapy that I often use in my practice is CBT. This type of therapy aims to help you change the unhealthy ways of thinking that contribute to mental health issues. With CBT, you will learn the relationship between your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
An evidenced-based therapy, CBT, was developed by psychologist Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s. Since then, thousands of studies have established its effectiveness in treating many mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can treat:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- Eating disorders
- Personality disorders
- Substance abuse disorders
Research on CBT has found that it strengthens neural connections between the amygdala, the part of your brain responsible for experiencing fear, and your prefrontal cortex, the brain area associated with decision-making (Shou et al., 2017).
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is another type of therapy I incorporate into my work with clients. DBT is helpful for those struggling with self-image and eating disorders, among other issues. In DBT, you will learn how to accept emotions for what they are. You will also gain skills such as distress tolerance to help you manage the powerful waves of emotion that typically lead to unhelpful behaviors.
Research has found that DBT can reduce activation of the amygdala, the brain structure that involves our fear response (Goodman et al., 2014). It has also been established that DBT can improve our ability to regulate our emotions.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
I also offer Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to clients struggling with various mental health difficulties. In participating in ACT, you will learn to stop avoiding painful emotions and discover that emotional reactions are a normal response to situations that life throws your way. ACT is like DBT in that respect. ACT supports leaning into the emotion rather than trying to run from it.
ACT is action-oriented, which means we will focus on long-term goal setting, practicing mindful behavior, and a commitment to taking action. Through ACT, you will gain confidence and will see an improvement in your ability to cope with life’s difficulties.
Mental health therapy in Boulder
Therapy is a process; deciding to try it takes courage, but that’s an important first step. Seeking help is always worthwhile if you struggle with difficult life changes, divorce, or mental health problems such as anxiety or an eating disorder.
I look forward to working together with you in therapy to develop a unique treatment plan that takes into consideration your background, culture, stage of life, and specific mental health needs.
Reach out for a free 20-minute consultation today: https://somethingwildwellness.com/contact/
