How Psychotherapy helps Anxiety and Depression?

Depression can be of several types depending on their causes. Some, that could be helped the most by psychotherapy, have causes that are relatively simple, like not knowing how to grieve losing someone or something (partner dies or leaves, losing a job or a house), being lonely and disconnected from the word or an outcry of one’s soul that a change in some area is needed. Some depressions are only diagnosed by medical doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists and helped by prescription medications. Some are mysterious with causes that cannot be explained yet by today’s science.

Anxiety is one form of fear. Like depression, anxiety can have several causes, for example anxiety is an unconsciously learnt behavior handed down from generations, or an unprocessed old fear that shows up in certain situations (even from past lives if one chose to believe in these) or a fear of the unknown.

The way psychotherapy helps with depression and anxiety is that first it helps the client to learn more about herself/himself. While a client talking with a therapist in a session about current issues the therapist could help connecting these issues with older ones (called origin of pain) that most probably appeared in childhood. There are various techniques/modalities to help this process, for example voice dialoguing (therapist talks with the client who is in a meditative state to find out what uncomfortable emotions are still with the client), inner child work (reconnects the client with her/his child self that was forgotten and was most probably hurt), discovering sub-personalities (learnt behaviors that helped us survive as child in our families but not 100 % helping us in our adult life) and two chair technique (client can explore some new conversations/behaviors, in a safe setting with the therapist, imagining that a challenging person like a raging father, boss or a cheating partner is present in the chair across and having healthy discussions). These techniques eventually provide the client to anchor some new and healthier behavior for the future while assist them to live a genuine life, being in the present, feeling more happy and relaxed and recognizing that at times life has challenging moments that could be dealt with.

Throughout holistic psychotherapy recognizes the connection between the body, mind and spirit. 

Eva Bognar

Psychotherapist (in training) 29 Apr 2014

As part of her final training requirement, Eva is currently (May / June 2014) offering 10 free Therapy Sessions on Saturdays at the Ottawa Holistic Wellness Centre. If you are interested please call Eva on 514-893-2175.

If you suffer from a mental health issue and are unsure about which therapy to try we offer a free 15 minute 'no obligation' consultation in which we will help you choose the most appropriate treatment path for you. Book your free 15 consultation online NOW.