☉ Counseling Methods

An Integrative Approach

Mr. Shapiro uses an integrative approach to psychotherapy, drawing from a number of successful models. He’ll work with you to discover which method or combination of methods is best suited for your particular situation. (Please keep in mind that you don’t need to know any of the details below; the descriptions are provided for your information only.)

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

A form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the important role of thinking in how we feel and what we do.  Cognitive-behavioral therapist teach that when our brains are healthy, it is our thinking that causes us to feel and act the way we do.  Therefore, if we are experiencing unwanted feelings and behaviors, it is important to identify the thinking that is causing the feelings / behaviors and to learn how to replace this thinking with thoughts that lead to more desirable reactions.

Systems Therapy

Systems theory is most commonly used in family therapy. This approach regards the whole family as the unit of treatment and emphasizes such factors as relationships and communication patterns within the family more than the traits or symptoms of specific individual members.

Dynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a form of treatment that helps people through understanding and expressing feelings, motivations, beliefs, fears, and desires. The understanding develops in the context of a therapeutic relationship.

Relational Therapy

Relational theory proposes that a central human necessity is the establishment of authentic and mutual connection in relationship. It contends that disconnection in relationship is the source of psychological problems.

Narrative Therapy

Narrative therapy is premised on the idea that the lives and the relationships of persons are shaped by two things: 1) the knowledge and stories that communities of persons negotiate and engage in to give meaning to their experiences and 2) certain practices of self and of relationship that make up ways of life associated with these knowledges and stories.

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