Treatment & Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a structured, time-limited, present-focused form of psychotherapy that works by identifying and changing the patterns of thinking and behavior that maintain distress. It is the most extensively researched psychotherapy and a first-line treatment for depression, anxiety, and many related conditions.
19 min readDialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
A comprehensive, multi-component cognitive-behavioral program built around the tension between acceptance and change. It is the best-evidenced treatment for borderline personality disorder and recurrent self-harm.
16 min readEMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
EMDR is a structured, eight-phase trauma psychotherapy in which a patient briefly attends to a distressing memory while engaging in bilateral stimulation, classically side-to-side eye movements. It is a first-line, well-evidenced treatment for PTSD whose signature ingredient remains scientifically contested.
19 min readExistential Psychotherapy
A philosophically grounded therapy that treats psychological distress as a confrontation with the basic conditions of existence — death, freedom, isolation, and meaning. Its strongest evidence comes from meaning-centered interventions in serious illness.
17 min readHumanistic and Person-Centered Therapy
Humanistic and person-centered therapy, founded by Carl Rogers, holds that the quality of the therapeutic relationship—genuineness, unconditional acceptance, and accurate empathy—is itself the engine of change. Its modern process-directive forms, especially emotion-focused therapy, are an evidence-based first-line option for depression, grief, and relational distress.
15 min readInterpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)
Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a brief, structured, time-limited talk therapy that treats depression by addressing the relational disruptions—grief, disputes, transitions, isolation—surrounding an episode. It is among the best-evidenced psychotherapies and a first-line treatment for depression, especially in perinatal, adolescent, and medication-coordinated settings.
19 min readLogotherapy
A meaning-centered psychotherapy founded by Viktor Frankl, built on the idea that the frustration of a "will to meaning" causes suffering and its recovery heals. Best known for paradoxical intention and dereflection, and for descendants like meaning-centered psychotherapy in serious illness.
19 min readMindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a structured, eight-week, group-based program that combines intensive mindfulness meditation training with cognitive therapy. It was designed primarily to prevent the return of depression in people with recurrent major depression who are currently in remission.
18 min readPsychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is the original depth psychotherapy and the most intensive treatment in its family—three to five sessions a week over several years, aimed at reorganizing personality rather than relieving symptoms alone. It survives as a narrow but living practice with observational evidence of durable change in suitable patients.
20 min readPsychodynamic Psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a family of treatments descended from psychoanalysis that works by making unconscious feelings, conflicts, and relationship patterns visible and changeable. Its modern, manualized forms perform comparably to CBT for common disorders and lead alongside DBT in personality pathology.
23 min readThe Architects of Psychotherapy: Major Figures and Their Contributions
A biographical guide to the founders, theorists, and researchers who built the major psychotherapies. Contested and critical legacies are included rather than airbrushed.
9 min readThe Psychotherapies: A Guide to the Landscape
An overview of the major psychotherapies — how they relate to one another, what the evidence actually shows, and how to choose between them by clinical presentation.