Winnipeg Psychology

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) aims to change your thoughts in order to change how you feel, which is useful for treating anxiety, depression, trauma, marital challenges, and many other concerns.

CBT is based on several core principles, including:

1. Psychological problems are rooted in faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking.
2. Psychological problems are based on learned patterns of unhelpful behaviours.
3. People suffering from psychological problems can learn better ways of coping, relieving their symptoms and improving their lives.

CBT treatment involves changing your thinking patterns, including:

• Learning to recognize one’s distortions in thinking that are creating problems, and then to re-evaluate them in light of reality
• Gaining a better understanding of the behaviour and motivation of others
• Using problem-solving skills to cope with difficult situations
• Learning to develop a greater sense of confidence in one’s own abilities

CBT treatment also involves changing your behavioural patterns, such as:

• Facing one’s fears instead of avoiding them
• Using role playing to prepare for potentially problematic interactions with others
• Learning to calm one’s mind and relax one’s body

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) refers to holding opposing views, or the existence of opposites. In DBT, you learn two opposing strategies: acceptance (i.e. your experiences are valid) and change (i.e. you have to make positive changes to manage your emotions).

DBT is divided into four stages of treatment:

1. The person feels miserable and their behaviour is out of control. The goal is for the person to move from being out of control to achieving behavioural control.
2. The person feels they are living a life of quiet desperation: their life-threatening behaviour is under control, but they continue to suffer.
3. The person learning to live, to define life goals, build self-respect in order to find peace and happiness. The goal is to lead a life of ordinary happiness and unhappiness.
4. For some people, another goal is needed to find deeper meaning through spiritual existence and practice.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a method of mindful therapy that helps you stay focused on the present moment and accept your thoughts and feelings without judgement. ACT works by accepting your life experiences as they come, without evaluating or trying to change them.

ACT offers mindfulness exercises to encourage you to build compassion around difficult experiences to free you from obsessive negative thinking to achieve peace of mind. ACT works by focusing on three areas:

1. Acceptance: start by accepting emotions and feelings that may feel like they’re out of your control and mindfully accept the experience.
2. Direction: commit to a positive approach that will help you move forward while resisting the pressure to revert back to old patterns.
3. Action: take charge of your life by making a conscious decision to stay with the new positive direction. Stay resilient, regardless of life’s challenges.

Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) is a method focused on the role of emotions to human experience and change in therapy. EFT focuses on strategies that promote the awareness, acceptance, expression, utilization, regulation, and transformation of emotion. The goal of EFT is to strengthen the self, regulate affect and create new meaning.

EFT is based on several core principles, such as:

1. Lack of emotional awareness is harmful
2. Avoiding your emotions can lead to negative outcomes in life
3. Over time, ignoring or avoiding your emotional response may alter your ability to process emotions later in life

A therapist trained in EFT will help you gain awareness and understanding of your emotions. During each session, the therapist will:

• Listen with compassion
• Not pass judgement on your emotions
• Use a reflective approach for asking questions