Therapy101 / Approaches
Exploring approaches
Psychotherapy and counselling include many ways of understanding experience and working towards change. Names can be a useful starting point, though practice varies between practitioners and settings.
Therapeutic traditions
The approaches below bring together several traditions. They overlap, and practitioners may draw on more than one in their work.
Cognitive and behavioural approaches
These approaches include a range of ways of examining thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Cognitive behavioural therapy has many forms and can be delivered in different settings.
Psychodynamic approaches
Psychodynamic approaches explore experiences, feelings and relationships, including patterns that may be difficult to notice.
Humanistic and experiential approaches
These approaches include different ways of attending to a person’s experience, understanding and therapeutic relationship.
Systemic and relational approaches
These perspectives consider relationships and the wider contexts in which people live. They can be used in work involving individuals, couples or families.
Therapy across the lifespan
From infancy through later life, age and life stage offer another way to explore psychotherapy. They sit alongside approaches rather than forming separate schools: a person’s circumstances, preferences and the setting also shape the work.
Infants and children
Explore early relationships and work involving infants, children, parents and carers, including play, communication and questions about consent and privacy.
Adolescents and young adults
Explore therapeutic relationships, autonomy, privacy and the role of family or carers as young people grow.
Adults
Explore individual and relational work in the context of changing responsibilities, relationships and life events.
Older adults
Explore psychotherapy in later life, including the diversity of older people’s experiences, access and the contexts in which support is offered.
These are directions for the collection, not treatment recommendations. Age alone does not determine what a person needs.
For examples of service contexts, see NHS children and young people’s mental health services and the National Institute on Aging’s information on depression in older adults.
Who takes part?
Explore therapy by the people involved as well as by approach and life stage. The same therapeutic tradition may be discussed in more than one context.
Individuals
One-to-one therapy and the therapeutic relationship.
Couples and partners
Work involving partners and the relationships between them.
Families, parents and carers
Family relationships, parenting, and work involving a parent or carer and child.
Groups
Therapy involving a group of participants, with its own questions about participation and privacy.
Sources and next steps
The BACP guide to types of therapy introduces several approaches, including humanistic and psychodynamic traditions. The NHS guide to talking therapies describes examples available in its service context. The NHS overview of cognitive behavioural therapy describes variations in CBT. An NHS systemic family therapy service describes work in a particular family therapy setting.
This is an introductory draft. More detailed profiles, historical sources and subject review are being prepared.