Clinical Approaches

EMDR is a structured therapy to reprocess disturbing and painful memories, often for PTSD.

• BLS  uses side-to-side eye movements, tones, or taps.

• This stimulation is thought to facilitate memory processing in the brain

• Proven to reduce distress related to a traumatic memory.

• EMDR uses an eight-phase approach.

• The goal is to move to an adaptive resolution.

• A therapist guides the whole process.

• EMDR is empirically validated for trauma and PTSD.

Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) examines how the mind, brain, and relationships interact to shape human development, well-being, and therapeutic change.

• • Multidisciplinary: Unifies neuroscience, psychology, and systems theory.

  • Mind: Embodied and relational flow of energy/information.

  • Integration: Linking differentiated parts is core to health.

  • Goal: Promote neural and relational integration.

  • Mindsight: Seeing the mind of self and others.

  • Therapy: Relationships promote change through integration.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that focuses on increasing psychological flexibility.

• Acceptance: Openly embrace unwanted private experiences.

• Commitment: Take action toward chosen values.

• Values: Choose what deeply matters to you.

• Defusion: Separate from unhelpful thoughts and feelings.

• Present Moment: Stay engaged with current experience.

• Self-as-Context: Pure awareness, distinct from content.

• Goal: Increase psychological flexibility for living fully.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches skills to manage intense, unstable emotions and destructive behaviors.

• Dialectical: Balances both acceptance and change strategies.

• Focus attention non-judgmentally on the present moment.

• Distress Tolerance: Cope with crisis without making it worse.

• Identify, understand, and manage strong feelings.

• Interpersonal Effectiveness: Maintain relationships and assert needs respectfully.

• Goal: Build a “life worth living” with skill.

• Format: Combines individual therapy and skills groups.

CBT is a goal-oriented, short-term therapy focused on the idea that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected and can be changed to alleviate distress.

• Cognitive Restructuring: Identify and challenge unhelpful thought patterns.

• Behavioral Experiments: Test beliefs by trying new actions.

• Core Beliefs: Deep, fundamental views about self/world.

• Skills-Based: Teaches specific, practical coping skills.

• Present-Focused: Targets current problems and symptoms.

• Goal: Change maladaptive thinking and behaviors.

• Neurofeedback is a non-invasive, structured form of biofeedback that uses operant conditioning to train the brain to produce more regulated and efficient brainwave patterns.

• Biofeedback: Self-regulation training using body signals.
  EEG/Sensors: Electrodes measure electrical brain activity.
  Real-Time Feedback: Brain activity shown via video or audio.
  Conditioning by rewarding desired brainwave frequencies.
  Neuroplasticity: Brain learns and changes its own function.
  Goal: Increase/decrease specific brain wave amplitudes.

Family Systems Theory views the family as a single emotional unit and a complex, interconnected system where the behavior of one member affects all others.

• System: Family is an interconnected emotional unit.

• Boundaries: Rules defining contact within and outside system.

• The system’s natural tendency to maintain balance.

• Triangles: A three-person relationship to reduce dyad tension.

• Differentiation: Maintaining self while emotionally connected.

• Fusion: Emotional blurring between family members.

• Goal: Increase individual differentiation and system flexibility.