What Are the Different Types of Therapy? | CBT Therapist Explains

Confused about CBT, counselling, psychodynamic therapy or EMDR? A CBT therapist explains the main types of therapy clearly and honestly.

What Are the Different Types of Therapy?

A CBT Therapist Explains the Main Approaches (Without the Jargon)

If you’re trying to work out which type of therapy is right for you, you’re not alone. Even therapists sometimes feel like they need a flowchart, a whiteboard and a strong cup of tea to keep track of it all.

CBT, counselling, psychodynamic therapy, ACT, EMDR… it can feel like a bit of a mindfield. And while each approach has its own language and emphasis, most people are really asking one simple question:

“What does this therapy actually do — and will it help me?”

As a CBT therapist, I want to offer a clear and honest explanation of the main types of therapy, without oversimplifying them — and without reducing CBT to “just tools” either.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): More Than Just the Here and Now

CBT is often described as a practical, evidence-based therapy that focuses on the here and now. That’s true — but it’s not the whole picture.

Good CBT explores:

• How thoughts, emotions, behaviours and physical sensations interact

• How patterns develop over time

• What those patterns were originally trying to protect you from

• Why they now keep you stuck instead

  
  

CBT doesn’t ignore the past. It simply works with it through the present, because lasting change happens in what you do, think and feel now.

CBT is particularly effective for:

• Anxiety disorders

• Depression

• Panic attacks

• Social anxiety

• Health anxiety

• Low self-esteem

• Stress and burnout

At its best, CBT is collaborative, compassionate and thoughtful — not rigid, rushed or formulaic.

Psychodynamic Therapy: When the Past Keeps Turning Up

Psychodynamic therapy focuses on unconscious patterns, early relationships and emotional themes that repeat across life.

Rather than asking “How do we fix this?”, it often asks:“Why does this keep happening?”

This approach can help people understand:

• Repeating relationship difficulties

• Long-standing emotional pain

• Strong emotional reactions that feel out of proportion

• Patterns rooted in early experiences

  
  

Psychodynamic therapy can offer deep insight. For some people, that understanding alone leads to change. Others benefit from combining insight with more structured approaches.

Counselling / Person-Centred Therapy: Being Properly Heard

Person-centred counselling is based on the idea that people grow when they feel genuinely understood and accepted.

The therapist offers:

• Empathy

• Non-judgement

• Emotional safety

• A consistent, reliable relationship

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This type of therapy can be especially helpful if:

• You’ve never felt truly listened to

• You struggle with shame or harsh self-criticism

• You need space to explore feelings before problem-solving

It may look simple — but being fully heard is often profoundly therapeutic.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): A Modern CBT Approach

ACT is a form of CBT that focuses less on changing thoughts and more on changing your relationship with them.

Instead of asking:“How do I stop these thoughts and feelings?” ACT asks:“How can I live a meaningful life alongside them?”

ACT is particularly helpful for:

• Chronic anxiety

• Repetitive worrying

• Persistent self-criticism

• Long-term stress

• Chronic pain

  
  

ACT combines mindfulness, values and behaviour change — and can be especially useful when traditional “fixing” hasn’t worked.

EMDR Therapy: When Experiences Get Stuck

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) is most often used for trauma and PTSD.

Some experiences don’t get fully processed by the brain and remain emotionally “live”. EMDR helps the brain reprocess these memories so they no longer trigger the same level of distress.

EMDR can be helpful for:

• Trauma and PTSD

• Phobias

• Distressing memories

• Complex emotional experiences (with appropriate adaptations)

• 
  

Talking alone doesn’t always reach these experiences — and EMDR offers another way in.

Which Type of Therapy Is Best?

This is the question people ask most — and the answer is rarely straightforward.

The best therapy depends on you.

Your personality, history, current difficulties and readiness all matter.

Some people need:

• Understanding before tools

• Tools before deeper exploration

• Stabilisation before insight

• 
  

Good therapy isn’t about rigid loyalty to a single model. It’s about using a clear framework flexibly, with a real human being at the centre.

A CBT Therapist’s Final Thoughts

CBT is not about “thinking positively”.

Psychodynamic therapy is not about blaming parents. Counselling is not “just listening”. ACT is not about giving up. EMDR is not hypnosis.

They are all different ways of helping people:

• Understand themselves better

• Reduce emotional suffering

• Live more fully

• 
  

If therapy feels confusing, that’s because it often is — even for professionals.

What matters most is finding an approach (and a therapist) that feels safe, makes sense to you, and helps you move forward.

Looking for CBT Therapy?

If you’re considering CBT therapy and want an approach that combines practical change with genuine understanding, you’re welcome to explore more at www.cbtpractice.net