Therapy

What Is... Series (Insights into Psychology)

What Is… Motivational Interviewing

In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is motivational interviewing. Motivational interviewing (MI) is a therapeutic communication approach. It’s often used in the field of addictions, but it’s got some very useful tidbits that are more broadly applicable to motivation for any sort of change. …

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

Sleep—it’s so important to have, yet sometimes so hard to get. Mental illness can make getting a good night’s sleep particularly difficult. Whether it’s depression, where you’re exhausted but can’t sleep, or mania, where you have too much energy to feel the need for sleep, insomnia is something that spans across diagnoses. A key non-medication …

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Psychotherapy alphabet soup: so many forms of therapy, so many initials

Psychotherapy Alphabet Soup: CBT, DBT, ACT, and More

Some studies have shown that the quality of the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist is a stronger predictor of therapeutic outcomes than the type of therapy used. However, it seems logical that the type of therapy should at least to some extent match up with how you tend to conceptualize the problems you’re experiencing. …

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Free mental health workbooks

Free Mental Health Workbooks

There are a lot of excellent mental health resources out there, and quite a few of them are actually free. Here are some of the good mental health workbooks and worksheets that I’ve come across, most of which are available as printable PDFs. They’re based on therapeutic approaches that have proven to be effective. This …

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Cognitive Distortions in CBT

I’m sure many of you are already familiar with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), but I thought it was still worth taking a look at cognitive distortions, a key ingredient in the CBT soup. Cognitive distortions are common unrealistic patterns of thinking. They’re not delusional, but at the same time, they don’t accurately reflect reality, and …

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