What are our therapeutic approaches?
The philosophy that underlies our treatment follows an integrative approach.
At the Eastern Ottawa Psychological Centre we strongly believe in offering a personalized treatment based on your specific needs and your therapeutic objectives. We follow an integrative approach that allows us to draw from a multitude of evidence-based therapeutic approaches. Our many years of experience as well as our continued training allow us to offer quality treatments that integrate your preferences and are informed by best practices. We are trained in a variety of approaches such as:
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy
- Emotion Focused Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Interpersonal Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Systems Therapy
- Trauma Therapy
Here is a short description of a few of these therapies:
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (general description)
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) (founded by Dr. Marsha Linehan) is an evidence-based treatment, belonging to the cognitive behavioral therapy family. This therapy was first developed to help individuals who had persistent difficulties regulating their painful emotions, but has also proven to be effective with a multitude of psychological difficulties. The central philosophy of this approach, known as dialectics, is to find a balance between the radical acceptance of a person as they are in the present moment, and favoring lasting changes that improve their quality of life by increasing their adaptive behaviours and reducing their maladaptive behaviours. The ultimate goal of this therapy is to help individuals to create a life worth living based on their values and aspirations.
Emotion Focused Therapy for individuals and couples
For individuals
Emotion Focused Therapy (Founded by Dr. Leslie Greenberg) is an evidence-based approach that aims to help individuals accept, express, regulate, understand, and transform their emotions. This therapy is based on the theory that emotions have the capacity to offer essential information, guide our actions and help us understand what we want and need. By facilitating access to adaptive emotions such as appropriate sadness, assertive anger, and self-compassion, this therapy helps to redefine and transform painful emotions stemming from difficult past experiences, such as sadness, fear of abandonment and shame related to feeling inadequate.
For couples
Emotion Focused Therapy for couples (founded by Dr. Susan Johnson) was developed in order to address relationship distress within adult romantic relationships. According to this approach, relationship distress is the result of dominant negative emotions arising from a rigid and persistent interactional dynamic. This approach’s objective is to favor the development of a secure long-term bond between partners by helping to increase safety, proximity, and emotional connection.
Mindfulness and Acceptance Therapy
Mindfulness and Acceptance Therapy consists of being conscious of one’s experience in the present moment. Practising daily mindfulness has been proven to be beneficial to improving psychological health and overall well-being. This approach allows an acceptance of one’s self and of one’s experiences by favoring a rich and complete life. This therapy’s guiding principle is that denying, avoiding or trying to rid ourselves of our difficult emotions and thoughts contributes to long term psychological suffering. Acceptance and mindfulness encourage welcoming our psychological states without necessarily trying to change them at all costs.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Cognitive Behavior Therapy is based on the premise that psychological difficulties are related to inadequate thoughts or behaviors. With the help of different strategies and techniques, CBT aims to help modify behaviors, thoughts, and emotions to ensure optimal functioning.