What type of therapy is right for me?


Clients often ask, ‘How do I know what kind of therapy is right for me?’ We know how difficult it can be to navigate the wide range of therapies available and hope these descriptions will be a helpful starting point for you.

It’s worth considering that a key factor in effective therapy is the therapeutic relationship. A strong, trusting relationship between you and the therapist creates a safe space where you can feel heard, understood, and supported. This connection can allow you to open up, explore difficult emotions, and work through challenges.

Our Bearsden based therapists are warm and empathic and will be happy to discuss your needs with you to ensure they can provide you with appropriate support. We know it can be daunting to take the step into therapy, but please be reassured you will be met with compassion and understanding.

Bearsden Therapies Contents

Clinical Psychology – Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Couples Therapy – EMDR
Educational Psychology – Family Therapy
Hypnotherapy – Integrative Therapy
Person-Centred Therapy – Walk and Talk Therapy

Clinical Psychology

Clinical Psychology refers to a branch of psychology focused on assessment, formulation and intervention to help alleviate distress associated with mental health issues, emotional difficulties, and psychological conditions. Clinical psychologists are trained to work with people across the lifespan and across a wide range of mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, stress, personality disorders, trauma, and more.

Key aspects of Clinical Psychology include:

  1. Assessment and formulation: Clinical psychologists assess mental health through interviews, standardised tests, and observations. They diagnose various psychological conditions based on the patient’s symptoms and psychological functioning. Clinical psychologists often talk about formulation, this a shared understanding of the client’s difficulties and needs which informs therapy.
  2. Therapy and Treatment: They provide therapeutic interventions such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, and other evidence-based treatments to help individuals manage their conditions. Treatment may involve individual or group therapy, depending on the case. Clinical psychologists are trained in a range of therapeutic models and will integrate various techniques in the line with their client’s needs.
  3. Multidisciplinary Work: Clinical psychologists often work as part of a team with psychiatrists, social workers, counsellors, and other health professionals to provide comprehensive care for patients. Clinical psychologists can work with individuals, teams and larger organisations,
  4. Research and Development: Clinical psychologists also engage in research to develop new treatment methods, better understand psychological conditions, and improve existing mental health services.
  5. Teaching and Training: Clinical psychologists are skills in teaching and training others in psychological practice.  This can be with other professionals in various fields and settings
  6. Clinical Supervision: Clinical psychologists are also qualified to offer supervision to other professionals on a one to one or group settings. In addition, clinical psychologists are skilled in facilitating reflective practice and other restorative processes to teams and organisations in various settings.
  7. Qualifications: Clinical psychologists in the UK typically undergo extensive training. They usually complete an undergraduate degree in psychology, followed by a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) from an accredited university. After this, they may gain experience in NHS clinical settings before working independently.

Clinical psychologists can work in various settings, such as hospitals, community mental health teams, schools, private practice, and Universities/Research institutions. They play a vital role in the mental healthcare system, helping to improve individuals’ quality of life by addressing psychological and emotional concerns. Clinical psychologies can also work in the third sector and corporate organisations offering consultation in relation to team and organisational dynamics.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)is a structured and evidence-based form of psychotherapy which focuses on gather links and connections between ‘Thoughts’, ‘Feelings’ and ‘Behaviours’. It is a focussed, collaborative and active approach whereby working together with your therapist clients will gather the evidence around presenting problems they are experiencing, ultimately offering them the skills and tools to help them become their own problem solver.

Our thoughts tend to significantly influence our feelings and actions. We often have an interpretation of a situation which leads to secondary thoughts, all of which we can believe to be facts impacting how we feel and behave.

Through CBT we look to challenge and change negative or unhelpful thought patterns allowing the opportunity for clients to improve their emotional wellbeing alongside altering their behaviours. CBT Sessions will typically involve the key components below.

Identifying and recognising negative thoughts – Clients will learn how to recognise and challenge distorted thinking pattens.

Cognitive restructuring – A process which involves replacing negative thoughts with more balanced and realistic ones promoting healthier emotional responses.

Behavioural Interventions – CBT encourages clients to engage in activities that counteract avoidance behaviours helping them to overcome and confront fears, phobias or anxiety provoking situations gradually.

Skill Development – Clients will learn practical tools and skills including problem-solving, relaxation and grounding techniques and stress management to enhance and support their coping strategies and interventions. 

Goal Setting – CBT is typically time limited and focussed on achieving specific goals allowing clients to see measurable progress.

Practice Tasks – Clients are encouraged to carry out practice tasks between sessions to support them in progressing in all aspects of their therapeutic journey. 

CBT has been shown to be effective for a variety of mental health conditions and its structure makes is accessible for a wide range of individuals.

Couples Therapy

Couples Therapy is a form of counselling or psychotherapy designed to help couples address and resolve conflicts, improve communication, and strengthen their relationship. It is often sought when couples experience challenges such as emotional distance, trust issues, infidelity, disagreements, or difficulties in understanding each other’s needs.

Often couples find therapy helpful in the following circumstances:

  1. they want help to change something in their relationship (for example, to improve communication or to re-connect as a couple)
  2. they want help in making a significant decision in their relationship, for example, whether to have a child or not
  3. their relationship has been affected by a significant event, such as bereavement or infidelity
  4. they want to end the relationship and want help to do that well (for themselves and/or their children).

Couples therapy provides a safe space for both partners to express their feelings, gain insights into each other’s perspectives, and develop strategies to address their issues. Couples therapy may involve a variety of therapeutic approaches.

Some common approaches include: 

  1. Developmental Couples Therapy – Developed by Ellen Bader and Peter Pearson, this model emphasizes the role of development in relationships and focuses on challenges which develop when partners change in different ways or at different times.
  2. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) – Founded by Sue Johnson, this model helps couples better understand and manage their emotions in the context of their relationship.
  3. Gottman Method – Based on research by John Gottman, this approach focuses on strengthening relationships through communication skills, conflict management, and building shared goals.
  4. Integrative Behavioural Couple Therapy (IBCT) – Combines acceptance and change strategies to address relationship problems.
  5. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – Focuses on changing negative thought patterns and behaviours that may be affecting the relationship.

EMDR

EMDR has been around since the 1980’s and has a large evidence base as an effective treatment for numerous difficulties such as trauma reactions, anxiety, depression, pain, grief, addictions, phobias and many other presentations.

EMDR is a therapy model with ‘8 phases’ that are worked through by the client and therapist together in a systematic way. Unlike other talking therapies, EMDR can be a more active therapy, making it a particularly helpful approach for children and those with neurodevelopmental diversity (e.g. ADHD and ASD). EMDR stands for ‘Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing’. It aims to reduce high levels of sensitivity to traumatic or difficult memories and beliefs in addition to ‘processing’ them. Processing memories essentially means helping your brain to encode tricky and traumatic memories in the proper place, so they no longer interfere in your life as much. EMDR does this by supporting you to connect with something like a difficult memory or future fear while focusing on ‘bilateral stimulation’.

A common form of such stimulation is back and forth eye movements (hence the eye-movements in the title) but other approaches to bilateral stimulation can be used such as tapping or alternating auditory noises. Some theories suggest that this bilateral stimulation helps with the processing of difficult memories and/or beliefs through a process similar to what happens when we dream during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

Theories suggest that EMDR helps our brains to process difficult thoughts, memories, and fears by unblocking them from the emotional centre of our brain and helping them to move to the more adaptive area of our brain that deals with language and logical thought.

If you wish to know more about EMDR, there is information on the EMDR UK association website at www.EMDRassociation.org.uk

Educational Psychology

Educational psychologists work with children and young people aged 0 – 24 years to promote positive outcomes in relation to learning, communication and mental health and wellbeing.  They work collaboratively with families and schools to assess and identify additional support needs (ASN) and provide consultation and advice on the provision of appropriate additional supports within education. 

Educational psychologists are highly trained and require an undergraduate degree in psychology and a 3-year professional Masters in Educational Psychology.  All educational psychologists must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council and carry out continued professional development to maintain their registration. 

Due to their expertise in child development and child and adolescent mental health, educational psychologists are well placed to deliver therapeutic interventions with children and young people.  Many educational psychologists have further professional training in therapeutic approaches including Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), narrative therapy, solution-oriented therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and therapeutic play.

Family Therapy

Family Therapy is a type of psychological treatment which focuses on improving communication and resolving conflicts within a family.  It often involves working with the whole family or key members, including parents, children, and sometimes extended family members and others, to improve family interactions and strengthen family relationships.

Family therapy helps people in close relationships to better understand and support each other. It helps families talk about and work out their difficulties – to find a way forward that might work better for everyone.  All families and family members are different. Many stages in family life are difficult. Sometimes families can deal with these challenges, other times it is much more difficult.  Family therapy can help when a family needs to work together, either to help one family member or to help the whole family. It can be useful when families feel overwhelmed, sad or angry; when they are not sure what to do for the best; or when they just feel stuck in a repeating pattern of hurtful or harmful behaviours.  Family therapy offers somewhere constant and stable during times of family change and uncertainty. It is objective, non-judgmental and creative.

Family therapy is helpful for many things, including

  • family relationship difficulties
  • child/teenage behaviour problems
  • parenting issues
  • separation and divorce
  • communication problems
  • emotional difficulties
  • mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression
  • fostering, adoption, kinship care
  • family trauma
  • adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
  • bereavement, grief and loss
  • domestic abuse

Family Therapists in Scotland and the UK must be qualified with a Masters degree in Family and Systemic Psychotherapy and members of the Association of Family Therapists (AFT) and the UK Council of Psychotherapists (UKCP).   Family therapists work systemically, which means they are interested in all ‘systems’ which affect the family – from individuals and immediate family systems to the wider systems of extended family, friends, school, work, other agencies, community, culture and society.  Family therapists are interested in generational patterns, belief systems and, generally, what contributes to family issues and how these might become resolved.what contributes to family issues and how these might become resolved.

Clinical Hypnotherapy

Clinical Hypnotherapy refers to a therapeutic technique that uses hypnosis to help individuals manage and overcome various psychological, emotional, and physical issues. It combines traditional hypnotherapy methods with a clinical approach, meaning it is carried out by trained professionals who are often regulated or accredited by recognised professional bodies, such as the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) or the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis (BSCH).

In clinical hypnotherapy, a trained therapist guides the client into a relaxed, focused state, often referred to as a trance, in which the client is more open to suggestions. This state is not one of sleep, but rather a deep state of concentration. Once in this relaxed state, the therapist may work with the client to address a variety of conditions, including:

  • Stress and anxiety
  • Phobias and fears
  • Pain management
  • Smoking cessation
  • Weight loss
  • Insomnia
  • Confidence and self-esteem issues
  • Trauma recovery

The idea behind clinical hypnotherapy is to use the power of the mind to help the body and emotions heal. It can be used as a standalone therapy or as a complementary treatment alongside other medical or psychological interventions. However, hypnotherapy is generally not suitable for severe mental health issues such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

In the UK, clinical hypnotherapists must undergo specialised training and certification. It’s essential to ensure that the practitioner is accredited by a recognised professional body for both quality and ethical practice.

Integrative Therapy

Integrative Therapy is a therapeutic approach that combines elements from different therapeutic modalities, with the goal of addressing the unique needs of each individual client. Rather than sticking strictly to one specific type of therapy, integrative therapy blends aspects from various psychological theories and practices to provide a holistic and personalised treatment.

Key features of integrative therapy include:

  • Client-Centred Approach: It places a strong emphasis on the therapeutic relationship, with the therapist adapting their approach to create a safe and empathetic space for the client.
  • Combination of Techniques: It integrates methods from various approaches such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, humanistic therapy, existential therapy, and more, depending on the therapist’s training and the needs of the client.
  • Personalised Treatment: The therapist tailors the treatment to the client’s individual needs, recognising that no one approach works for everyone.
  • Holistic Focus: Integrative therapy considers a person’s emotional, mental, physical, and social well-being, addressing the whole person.

In the UK, integrative therapy is practiced by qualified and accredited therapists, many of whom are members of professional organisations like the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) or the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). These bodies ensure that therapists follow ethical guidelines and maintain professional standards..

Person-centered Therapy

Person Centred Therapy (also known as client-centred therapy) is a type of psychotherapy developed by Carl Rogers in the 1940s and 1950s. It emphasizes creating a therapeutic environment where individuals feel accepted, understood, and empowered to explore their feelings and experiences.

Person-centred therapy is widely used by mental health professionals and is grounded in the belief that people have the ability to self-heal and make positive changes when they are given the right support. The therapist’s role is to provide empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence (authenticity) to create a safe, non-judgmental space for the client.

Key principles of person-centred therapy include:

  1. Unconditional Positive Regard: The therapist accepts the client without judgment, regardless of their feelings or actions.
  2. Empathy: The therapist deeply understands and shares the feelings of the client, helping them feel heard and validated.
  3. Congruence (Genuineness): The therapist is authentic and transparent, helping to build trust and encourage openness.

In this approach, the therapist doesn’t direct or advise the client; instead, they facilitate the client’s exploration of their own thoughts and feelings, allowing them to find their own solutions and gain self-awareness. This type of therapy is often used to treat conditions like depression, anxiety, and relationship issues, among others.

Person-centred therapy is practised by trained and registered therapists, and it is recognised as an effective form of treatment for a variety of mental health concerns. It is also endorsed by professional bodies such as the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)..

Walk and Talk Therapy

Walk-and-talk therapy is a form of therapy where clients and therapists conduct their sessions while walking outdoors, usually in a park or other natural settings.

This approach combines traditional talk therapy with the benefits of physical movement and nature, which can help clients feel more relaxed and open during the session. It may reduce the formality or anxiety sometimes associated with traditional therapy settings, making it easier for individuals to express their thoughts and emotions.

The walking aspect can also have physical and psychological benefits, such as reducing stress and improving overall mood.