Different Types of Therapy & How They Can Help You

If you’ve started looking into therapy, you may have quickly discovered that there are many different types of therapy to choose from.

CBT, person-centred therapy, psychodynamic therapy, integrative therapy, hypnotherapy, counselling, psychotherapy… it can be difficult to know what all these terms actually mean, let alone which approach might be right for you.

I mean, when I first started my journey – person centered therapy!? Well I hope they put the person first!

The good news is that you don’t necessarily need to understand every type of therapy before reaching out for support.

Therapy is not about finding a label that perfectly describes you. It is about finding an approach – and a therapist – that feels appropriate for your experiences, needs and goals.

As an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor, I have trained in a variety of approaches. This means that rather than expecting every client to fit into one particular model, I can draw from different therapeutic approaches depending on what you need. You don’t have to come in knowing what you need btw ;)

Sometimes therapy may involve understanding experiences from your past and exploring patterns that continue to affect you today. At other times, it may be more focused on what is happening in your life now and developing practical strategies to manage difficult thoughts, emotions or situations.

Often, it is a combination of both.

In this guide, we’ll explore the different types of therapy, what they mean, their potential benefits, and how you can begin to decide which type of counselling or psychotherapy might be right for you.

What is therapy?

Therapy, counselling and psychotherapy are forms of psychological support that involve working with a trained professional to explore your thoughts, feelings, behaviours, experiences and relationships.

Talking therapies can be helpful for a wide range of difficulties, including anxiety, low mood, stress, relationship difficulties, difficult life experiences and periods of change.

The NHS describes talking therapies as treatments that involve talking to a trained professional about thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

But therapy doesn’t have to be about having a particular diagnosis.

You might seek counselling because:

• You feel anxious or overwhelmed.
• Your confidence or self-esteem has changed.
• You are experiencing ongoing stress.
• You feel stuck in patterns that you don’t understand.
• You’re struggling with a difficult life transition.
• Your relationships feel difficult or repetitive.
• You find yourself overthinking or being particularly self-critical.
• You feel disconnected from yourself.
• Something from your past continues to affect you.
• You want to understand yourself better.
• You simply have a sense that something isn’t quite right.

You don’t need to wait until things become unbearable before asking for support. Therapy can also be an opportunity for self-understanding, reflection and personal growth.

What are the different types of therapy?

There are many different therapeutic approaches, and each has its own theories about how psychological difficulties develop and how change happens.

Some approaches focus more strongly on the present. Others explore childhood, relationships and unconscious patterns. Some are structured and practical, while others provide more space for reflection and exploration.

Here are some of the main approaches, including the therapies I draw on in my own work.

Person-Centred Therapy

What is person-centred therapy?

Person-centred therapy is a humanistic approach to counselling developed from the work of psychologist Carl Rogers.

At its heart is the belief that people have an ability to grow, develop and move towards greater wellbeing when they are offered the right conditions to do so.

Rather than the therapist acting as someone who has all the answers, person-centred therapy places importance on creating a genuine, accepting and non-judgemental therapeutic relationship.

This means you are given space to explore what is happening for you in your own words and at your own pace.

The therapist listens carefully, seeks to understand your perspective and helps create an environment where you can explore thoughts and feelings without fear of judgement.

What can person-centred therapy help with?

Person-centred counselling may be particularly helpful if you:

• Struggle with low self-esteem or self-worth.
• Are very self-critical.
• Feel disconnected from yourself.
• Have difficulty understanding or expressing your emotions.
• Feel that you have spent a long time putting other people’s needs first.
• Are going through a period of change or uncertainty.
• Want a safe space to talk without feeling pressured.
• Want to develop greater self-awareness and self-compassion.

For some people, simply having somewhere they can be completely honest and accepted can feel very different from their experiences elsewhere.

What are the benefits of person-centred therapy?

One of the important aspects of person-centred therapy is the therapeutic relationship itself. Having a consistent space where you can speak openly and be lis tened to without judgement may help you develop a greater understanding of yourself and your emotional experiences.

It can also provide an opportunity to explore your needs, values and boundaries and consider what you genuinely want, rather than what you feel you should want.

There is no expectation that you will arrive at therapy with everything figured out.

You don’t have to know exactly what you need help with.

Sometimes the starting point is simply:

“I don’t really know what’s wrong. I just know I don’t feel like myself.”

That is enough.

Psychodynamic Therapy

What is psychodynamic therapy?

Psychodynamic therapy explores how our past experiences, relationships and emotions can influence the way we think, feel and behave in the present.

A psychodynamic approach recognises that we are not always consciously aware of why we respond to situations in particular ways.

You may notice, for example, that you repeatedly find yourself in similar relationship patterns, react particularly strongly to certain situations, or struggle with feelings that seem difficult to explain.

Psychodynamic therapy can provide an opportunity to explore where some of these patterns may have come from.

This can include looking at:

• Childhood experiences.
• Important relationships.
• Attachment and emotional development.
• Experiences of loss or rejection.
• Repeated relationship patterns.
• Unconscious thoughts and feelings.
• Ways of protecting yourself emotionally.
• Beliefs you have developed about yourself and other people.

This doesn’t mean that therapy is simply about “digging up the past”.
Instead, exploring the past can sometimes help us understand the present.

What can psychodynamic therapy help with?

Psychodynamic therapy may be useful when you feel that you understand something logically but still find yourself repeating the same patterns.

For example:

“I know I shouldn’t feel guilty for saying no, but I still can’t set boundaries.”

Or:

“I know my relationship is healthy, but I keep expecting something to go wrong.”

Or:

“I keep reacting in the same way, even though I know it’s not helping me.”

Exploring these experiences can help you develop greater insight into what may be happening beneath the surface.

Psychodynamic approaches are among the psychological therapies recognised within UK clinical guidance and evidence reviews.

What are the benefits of psychodynamic therapy?

The potential benefit of psychodynamic work is that it can move beyond simply managing an individual symptom and explore the wider patterns behind it.

Developing insight can help you begin to recognise:

• What am I feeling?
• Why might I be feeling this way?
• Where have I experienced something similar before?
• What do I believe about myself or other people?
• Is this pattern still serving me?

This greater awareness can create space for different choices.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

What is CBT?

Cognitive behavioural therapy, commonly known as CBT, explores the relationship between our thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

The basic idea is that these three areas can influence one another.

For example:

Thought: “I’m going to make a mistake.”
↓
Feeling: Anxiety and fear.
↓
Behaviour: Avoiding the situation.
↓
Short-term result: Relief.
↓
Long-term result: The anxiety may remain because the situation continues to feel threatening.

CBT can help you identify patterns like these and consider whether there are alternative ways of thinking and responding.

The NHS describes CBT as an approach where a therapist helps you make changes to how you think and act, often including practising what you learn between sessions.

What can CBT help with?

CBT is commonly used for difficulties including anxiety and depression, and there are different forms of CBT depending on the difficulty being addressed.

It can be particularly useful if you want therapy to have a practical and structured element.

• For example, CBT techniques may help you explore:
• Anxious thoughts.
• Negative thinking patterns.
• Self-critical beliefs.
• Avoidance behaviours.
• Worry and overthinking.
• Behavioural patterns that maintain difficulties.
• Unhelpful assumptions about yourself or other people.
• Practical ways of coping with difficult emotions.

What are the benefits of CBT?

One of the benefits of CBT is that it can give you practical tools to use outside the therapy room.

Rather than simply talking about how you feel, you may work together to understand a particular pattern and consider what you could do differently.

This can make CBT appealing if you are someone who likes having clear strategies or goals to work towards.

However, CBT doesn’t have to be completely separate from deeper exploration.
In integrative therapy, CBT strategies can be combined with person-centred and psychodynamic thinking, depending on what feels most appropriate for you.

Integrative Therapy

What is integrative therapy?

Integrative therapy brings together different therapeutic approaches rather than relying on one model.

This is the approach I work with.

As an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor, I draw primarily on:

• Person-centred therapy
• Psychodynamic therapy
• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
• Nervous system regulation
• Mind-body practices
• Mindfulness
• Internal Family Systems (IFS)
• And more.

The reason I work integratively is simple:

I don’t believe you should have to fit yourself into a particular type of therapy. You are an individual with your own history, personality, relationships, experiences, beliefs and ways of coping. What helps one person may not necessarily help another. An integrative approach allows therapy to be adapted around the person rather than the other way around.

What does integrative therapy actually look like?

Integrative therapy can look different from one person to another. For one person, therapy may involve exploring childhood experiences and understanding how these have influenced relationships in adulthood. For someone else, it may focus more on anxiety, self-critical thoughts and practical CBT strategies.
For another person, the most important thing initially may simply be having a safe and accepting space where they can begin to understand what they’re feeling.

And sometimes these elements overlap.

You might spend part of a session exploring where a particular belief came from, and then consider how that belief is affecting your behaviour today.

The following week, you might focus on a difficult situation happening in your life right now and explore practical ways of managing it.

There is no requirement for every session to look the same.

The benefits of an integrative approach to therapy

An integrative approach can offer flexibility.

Rather than asking:

“Which therapy does this person fit into?”

We can ask:

“What might be most helpful right now?”

This allows the therapeutic work to evolve.

Sometimes you may need space to talk and be heard.

Sometimes you may want to understand why a particular pattern keeps appearing.

Sometimes you may want practical tools to manage anxiety or difficult emotions.

And sometimes you may need a combination of all three.

The aim is not to use as many techniques as possible.

It is to use the approach that feels most relevant and helpful to you.

Counselling vs Psychotherapy: What’s the Difference?

You may also have come across the terms counselling and psychotherapy and wondered whether they mean different things.

There can be overlap between the two, and the terminology isn’t always used consistently.

Counselling is often associated with providing support around current difficulties, emotions, relationships and life circumstances.

Psychotherapy can involve deeper exploration of patterns, experiences, relationships and psychological processes.

However, there isn’t always a clear dividing line.

It can also be difficult for therapists to know to market their business – when people aren’t always aware of particular terms like “psychodynamic” “psychotherapy” “person-centered”, etc. Counselling and therapy are quite often the terms that you will see and here, as umbrella terms for different types of work.

An integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor may work with both present-day difficulties and deeper underlying patterns, depending on the person and their needs.

The most important question is often less about the title and more about:

How does this particular therapist work, and does that approach feel right for me?

Hypnotherapy

What is hypnotherapy?

Hypnotherapy uses hypnosis as part of a therapeutic process. Hypnosis involves a state of focused attention and increased absorption, which some people find helpful when working towards particular changes. Hypnotherapy is different from simply being “put to sleep” or losing control.

You remain aware and involved in the process.

Hypnotherapy may be used alongside other therapeutic approaches depending on the therapist’s training, the presenting issue and what is appropriate for the individual.

In my own practice, my training in hypnotherapy forms part of my wider understanding of therapeutic approaches and mind-body wellbeing.

It is not necessarily something every client will need or use.

As with any therapeutic approach, the focus should remain on what is appropriate and helpful for the individual.

Nervous System Regulation and Mind-Body Approaches

Increasingly, people are interested in the relationship between mental and physical wellbeing. I love this because we are human beings, and there is a huge disconnect between the way we live in society and the way we are built as human.

The mind and body are not two things you can separate.

Stress and emotional experiences aren’t only experienced as thoughts.

You might notice them physically through muscle tension, changes in breathing, feeling restless, difficulty relaxing, changes in energy or a sense of being constantly “on edge”.

My additional training and learning in nervous system regulation and mind-body wellbeing allows me to consider this connection alongside psychological approaches.

This doesn’t mean that every difficulty can be explained by the nervous system, nor that nervous system techniques are a replacement for therapy or medical care.

Instead, they can sometimes form part of a broader conversation about how you experience stress, emotions and your body.

How do I know which type of therapy is right for me?

This is probably the question most people have when they begin researching therapy.

And the answer is:

You don’t necessarily have to know.

You can tell a therapist what you’re experiencing and what you hope might change, and you can ask them how they think they could support you.

For example, you might say:

“I’ve been feeling anxious for a while and I don’t really understand why.”

Or:

“I keep struggling with the same relationship patterns.”

Or:

“I feel overwhelmed and I need some practical tools to cope.”

Or even:

“I don’t really know what I need. I just know I don’t feel like myself.”

A good therapist can help you explore what might be appropriate rather than expecting you to diagnose yourself or choose a therapeutic model before you begin.

Part 2: Choosing the Right Therapist for You

The type of therapy you choose is important, but the relationship you have with your therapist matters too.

You could find a therapist who uses a theoretically suitable approach, but if you don’t feel comfortable talking to them, it may not feel like the right fit.

Therapy can involve vulnerability, so feeling respected, heard and safe is important.

It is also important to know that you DON’T have to know what kind of therapy you want or the specific issue to explore. This is just information incase it is helpful for you. MANY people come into the therapy room so we can untangle these things.

Consider what you want from therapy

Before choosing a therapist, it can help to ask yourself:

• Do I want to understand the past?
• Do I want practical strategies?
• Do I mainly need somewhere safe to talk?
• Do I want a combination?

And you don’t necessarily have to choose just one.

I think the more important question would be:

What should I look for in a therapist?

When searching for a counsellor or psychotherapist, consider:

Their qualifications and professional membership

Look at their training, qualifications and whether they belong to an appropriate professional organisation. Professional bodies can provide useful information when researching therapists. For example, the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) maintains a therapist directory and highlights the importance of checking a therapist’s qualifications and professional registration.

Their therapeutic approach

Look beyond the therapy labels and read about how the therapist actually works.

• Do they sound structured and practical?
• Do they focus more on exploration and insight?
• Do they combine different approaches?
• Does their description make you feel understood?

Whether they understand your particular concerns

You may want someone with experience or additional training relating to the difficulties you’re experiencing.

Whether you feel comfortable with them

This one can be difficult to judge before meeting someone.

But consider how you feel when reading their website or speaking to them. Remember, it is also easy to judge a book by its cover. The best thing to do is speak on the phone, or via Zoom. Online profiles only give you a very small snippet of a therapist and not who they are as a person.

• Do they come across as warm and approachable?
• Do you feel that you could be yourself around them?
• Do they communicate in a way that makes sense to you?

There isn’t one “perfect” therapist. There is the therapist who may be a good fit for you.

What happens if I choose the “wrong” type of therapy?

This is something people often worry about. You don’t need to make a lifelong commitment to a particular therapy before you’ve even started.

Therapy is a collaborative process.

As you begin working together, you and your therapist can discuss what’s helpful, what isn’t, and whether your goals are being met.

Your needs can also change over time.

You might initially come to therapy because of anxiety, for example, and later realise that there are deeper patterns around self-esteem, relationships or past experiences that you’d like to explore.

An integrative approach can be particularly useful in situations like this because the focus can evolve alongside you.

Is one type of therapy better than another?

Not necessarily.

Different therapeutic approaches have different theoretical foundations, techniques and areas of focus.

Some therapies have stronger evidence for particular mental health difficulties or are specifically recommended within clinical guidelines for certain conditions.

For example, CBT is widely used within NHS talking therapies, while counselling and psychodynamic approaches are also included among recognised psychological treatment options.

But choosing therapy isn’t simply about finding the approach with the longest list of studies.

You are a person, not a diagnosis.

Your personality, preferences, experiences, goals and relationship with your therapist can all influence how therapy feels and whether it is a good fit.

This is one reason I value an integrative approach.

People come to counselling for many different reasons.

You don’t have to have a specific diagnosis to benefit from having a space to explore what’s happening in your life.

My approach to therapy

My approach is rooted in the belief that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to therapy.

I work as an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor, drawing on different approaches, for example, person-centred, psychodynamic and CBT approaches.

That means our work might sometimes involve exploring your history and relationships and understanding how your experiences have shaped you.

At other times, we might focus on what is happening in your life now and look at practical ways to manage difficult thoughts, emotions or situations.

Sometimes therapy may be reflective.
Sometimes it may be practical.
Often, it will be both.

My aim is to meet you where you are rather than expecting you to fit into a particular therapeutic model.

I want therapy to be somewhere you can be honest about what you’re experiencing, without feeling that you have to have the right words or know exactly what you need.

Frequently Asked Questions About Different Types of Therapy

Do I need to know which type of therapy I need before contacting a therapist?

No. You don’t need to diagnose yourself or choose a therapeutic approach before getting in touch. A conversation with a therapist can help you explain what you’re experiencing and understand how they might work with you.

What if I don’t like the type of therapy?

Therapy should be a collaborative process, and a place where you can be yourself and speak up. This is something that you would discuss with your therapist, so together, you can decide the next steps forward.

Is psychodynamic therapy about childhood?

Childhood experiences can be explored within psychodynamic therapy, but psychodynamic therapy isn’t simply about talking about your childhood.
The focus is on understanding how past experiences and relationships may influence your current thoughts, feelings, relationships and patterns.

Is CBT only about changing negative thoughts?

No. CBT considers the relationship between thoughts, emotions and behaviours.
Therapy may involve identifying thinking patterns, but it can also involve exploring behaviours, avoidance, coping strategies and practical ways of responding differently.

What is integrative counselling?

Integrative counselling combines elements of different therapeutic approaches.
Rather than following one model rigidly, an integrative counsellor can draw on different theories and techniques depending on the individual’s needs and goals.

Finding the Right Type of Therapy for You

Choosing therapy can feel like a big step.

You may be unsure where to start, worried about saying the wrong thing, or wondering whether your problems are “bad enough” to justify asking for help.

You don’t need to have everything figured out before you begin.

The right therapy isn’t necessarily the one with the most complicated name or the one that promises the quickest solution.

It may simply be the approach that gives you enough safety to be honest, enough curiosity to understand yourself, and enough practical support to begin making meaningful changes.

For me, this is why integrative therapy is so valuable.
You are not a label, a diagnosis or a collection of symptoms.
You are a person with a unique history, personality, relationships, experiences and way of seeing the world.

Therapy should have room for all of that.

If you’re experiencing anxiety, low self-esteem, stress, difficult life transitions, or simply feel stuck in patterns that no longer feel helpful, counselling can provide a space to slow down, make sense of what you’re experiencing and begin moving forward.

You don’t have to know exactly what you need before reaching out.

We can start there.

If you’d like to explore whether working together could be right for you, get in touch to arrange an initial conversation.

A final note

Therapy can be incredibly valuable, but it isn’t a replacement for urgent medical or mental health care when this is needed. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis or feel that you may be at immediate risk, seek appropriate urgent support rather than waiting for a counselling appointment. The NHS provides information about accessing urgent mental health support in the UK.