Mental Health Treatments
Over 40 Years of Experience
Over 40 Years of Experience
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
This subtle verbal and cognitive shift is the essence of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). It suggests that a person can take action without first changing or eliminating feelings. Rather than fighting the feeling attached to a behavior, a person can observe oneself as having the feeling but still act (Mattaini, 1997). Acceptance-based approaches (Hayes & Wilson, 1994) postulate that instead of opting for change alone, the most effective approach may be to accept and change. The importance of acceptance has long been recognized in the Serenity Prayer.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/two-takes-depression/201102/acceptance-and-commitment-therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of treatment that focuses on examining the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors. By exploring patterns of thinking that lead to self-destructive actions and the beliefs that direct these thoughts, people with mental illness can modify their patterns of thinking to improve coping. CBT is a type of psychotherapy that is different from traditional psychodynamic psychotherapy in that the therapist and the patient will actively work together to help the patient recover from their mental illness. People who seek CBT can expect their therapist to be problem-focused, and goal-directed in addressing the challenging symptoms of mental illnesses. Because CBT is an active intervention, one can also expect to do homework or practice outside of sessions.
A person who is depressed may have the belief, "I am worthless," and a person with panic disorder may have the belief, "I am in danger." While the person in distress likely believes these to be ultimate truths, with a therapist’s help, the individual is encouraged to challenge these irrational beliefs. Part of this process involves viewing such negative beliefs as hypotheses rather than facts and to test out such beliefs by “running experiments.” Furthermore, people who are participating in CBT are encouraged to monitor and write down the thoughts that pop into their minds (called "automatic thoughts"). This allows the patient and their therapist to search for patterns in their thinking that can cause them to have negative thoughts which can lead to negative feelings and self-destructive behaviors.
https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/cognitive-behavioral
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) treatment is a cognitive-behavioral approach that emphasizes the psychosocial aspects of treatment. The theory behind the approach is that some people are prone to react in a more intense and out-of-the-ordinary manner toward certain emotional situations, primarily those found in romantic, family, and friend relationships. DBT theory suggests that some people’s arousal levels in such situations can increase far more quickly than the average person’s, attain a higher level of emotional stimulation, and take a significant amount of time to return to baseline arousal levels.
People who are sometimes diagnosed with borderline personality disorder experience extreme swings in their emotions, see the world in black-and-white shades and seem to always be jumping from one crisis to another. Because few people understand such reactions — most of all their own family and a childhood that emphasized invalidation — they don’t have any methods for coping with these sudden, intense surges of emotion. DBT is a method for teaching skills that will help in this task.
https://psychcentral.com/lib/an-overview-of-dialectical-behavior-therapy/0001096
The Exposure in ERP refers to exposing yourself to the thoughts, images, objects and situations that make you anxious and/or start your obsessions. While the Response Prevention part of ERP, refers to making a choice not to do a compulsive behavior once the anxiety or obsessions have been “triggered.” All of this is done under the guidance of a therapist at the beginning — though you will eventually learn to do your own ERP exercises to help manage your symptoms. this strategy of purposefully exposing yourself to things that make you anxious may not sound quite right to you.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR)
EMDR therapy is recognized as an effective form of trauma treatment in numerous practice guidelines worldwide. In the US, this includes organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association and Department of Defense. More than twenty randomized studies support the effectiveness of the therapy in the treatment of PTSD. Further, more than twenty randomized studies have demonstrated positive effects of eye movements.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a comprehensive, integrative psychotherapy approach. It contains elements of many effective psychotherapies in structured protocols that are designed to maximize treatment effects. These include psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, experiential, and body-centered therapies.
EMDR psychotherapy is an information processing therapy and uses an eight-phase approach to address the experiential contributors of a wide range of pathologies. It attends to the past experiences that have set the groundwork for pathology, the current situations that trigger dysfunctional emotions, beliefs, and sensations, and the positive experience needed to enhance future adaptive behaviors and mental health.
Family Systems
Family systems therapy is derived from the work of Murray Bowen using the framework of systems theory to view the family as one emotional unit. When applied to families, the therapist considers the family context in evaluating and treating the individual. Family systems therapists see the behavior of an individual as informed by and inseparable from the functioning of the larger family context. As a result, the entire system is considered during the course of therapy. The family is included in the therapy as deemed appropriate by the client and therapist.
https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/family-systems-therapy
Logotherapy
Logotherapy is a term derived from “logos,” a Greek word that translates as “meaning.” Therapy is defined as the treatment of a disorder, illness, or maladjustment. Developed by Viktor Frankl, the theory is founded on the belief that human nature is motivated by the search for a life purpose; logotherapy is the pursuit of that meaning for one’s life. Frankl's theories were heavily influenced by his personal experiences of suffering and loss in Nazi concentration camps.

Person Centered Therapy
Person-centered therapy was developed by Carl Rogers. This type of therapy diverged from the traditional views of the therapist as an expert and moved instead toward a non-directive approach that embodied the theory of actualizing tendency. The theory of actualizing tendency says humans have the potential to discover the realization of their own personal abilities. The foundation of this method of therapy is derived from the belief that every human being strives to find their own fulfillment and the fulfillment of his or her own potential. Carl R. Rogers stated that "Individuals have within themselves vast resources for self-understanding and for altering their self-concepts, basic attitudes, and self-directed behavior; these resources can be tapped if a definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided" (from Carl R. Rogers. Way of Being. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980, p.115-117).
Pharmacotherapy
Pharmacotherapy is treatment by means of medications. Associates In Mental Health SC is a locally owned medical center providing excellent treatments for all kinds of mental problems. Rest assured knowing that our staff members are certified and well trained. Reach out to us for details.
Play Therapy
Play Therapy is defined by APT as “the systematic use of a theoretical model to establish an interpersonal process wherein trained Play Therapists use the therapeutic powers of play to help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal growth and development." Play Therapy should only be provided by graduate-level mental health professionals who have met the required education, clinical licensure, and additional specialized training and supervision specific to Play Therapy.
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Psychodynamic therapy, also known as insight-oriented therapy, focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in a person’s present behavior. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are a client’s self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior. In its brief form, a psychodynamic approach enables the client to examine unresolved conflicts and symptoms that arise from past dysfunctional relationships and manifest themselves in the need and desire to abuse substances.
Several different approaches to brief psychodynamic psychotherapy have evolved from psychoanalytic theory and have been clinically applied to a wide range of psychological disorders. There is a body of research that generally supports the efficacy of these approaches. Psychodynamic therapy is the oldest of modern therapies. (Freud’s psychoanalysis is a specific form and subset of psychodynamics therapy.) As such, it is based on a highly developed and multifaceted theory of human development and interaction.
Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy
Rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), developed by Albert Ellis in 1955 and originally called rational therapy, laid the foundation for what is now known as cognitive-behavioral therapy. REBT is built on the idea that how we feel is largely influenced by how we think. As is implied by the name, this form of therapy encourages the development of rational thinking to facilitate healthy emotional expression and behavior.
https://www.goodtherapy.org/rational-emotive-behavioral-therapy.html
Solution Focused Therapy
Solution focused therapy targets the desired outcome of therapy as a solution rather than focusing on the symptoms or issues that brought someone to therapy. This technique only gives attention to the present and the future desires of the client, rather than focusing on the past experiences. The therapist encourages the client to imagine their future as they want it to be and then the therapist and client collaborate on a series of steps to achieve that goal. This form of therapy involves reviewing and dissecting the client’s vision, and determining what skills, resources, and abilities the client will develop and use to attain his desired outcome.
SFBT is a form of talk therapy that maintains that change is inevitable and constant. The therapist who conducts the SFBT will examine the elements of the client’s life that they wish to alter and also those elements that they want to leave unchanged. Working together, the client and therapist devise a vision of what the possible future could look like. They work to mold and define it as detailed as they can in order to allow the client to hold that clear picture in his or her mind.
https://solutionfocused.net/what-is-solution-focused-therapy/
Trauma-Focused CBT
Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy is used to help people experiencing clinical post-traumatic stress return to a healthy state of functioning after a traumatic event. This therapy is used for treating the parents or caregivers, children, and adolescents in a way that decreases the negative behavior patterns and emotional responses that occur as a result of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or other trauma.
Through TF-CBT, both parents and children learn how to process their emotions and thoughts that relate to the traumatic experience. They are given the necessary tools to alleviate overwhelming thoughts that can cause stress, anxiety, and depression and are taught how to manage their emotions in a healthier way. The goal of TF-CBT is to allow both the child and the parent to continue to develop their skills and communication techniques in a healthy manner.
https://www.nctsn.org/interventions/trauma-focused-cognitive-behavioral-therapy
Wellness Coaching
Wellness Coaches work together with others within the interdisciplinary team, focusing on helping clients who are well to stay well and helping others not only to recover from illness but to discover their "best selves" with a new emphasis on wellness. The role of the coach is to help the individual identify personal reasons for pursuing greater wellness and to enhance motivation for behavior change using evidence-based strategies such as positive psychology, motivational interviewing, and non-violent communication.
Wellness Coaches are experts in establishing relationships and practicing core coaching skills that assist the individual in identifying values and desires, transforming them into action, and maintaining lasting change over time. They partner in dynamic collaboration with individuals, respecting the client as the expert in his/her own life, using a strength-based focus the therapist and client focus on what is working to assist the client in achieving their best selves.
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