Therapeutic Approaches

Attachment theory has important implications when it comes to understanding behaviours in the context of adult relationships and how we perceive and respond to intimacy. This approach focuses on exploring attachment wounds from our early  experiences with caregivers which shape how you feel and act in adult relationships.

The goal of Attachment theory focuses on bringing awareness to your personal attachment style, learning about your needs and how to communicate them effectively. Learning about your personal attachment can endorse positive adjustment and help you consciously work towards becoming more secure in your attachment style.

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy is a very practical and hands on approach that views emotional and behavioural consequences as the result of your inner thoughts. This approach emphasizes that your thoughts directly influences your emotions and the meaning you attribute to events. Psychological distress is believed to be a result of one's thought processes and maladaptive thinking.

The goal of CBT is to teach you how to change these unhelpful thinking patterns.  Your therapist will help you identify, test and evaluate beliefs and automatic thoughts so that you can change them into more adaptive and helpful thinking. CBT has proven to be particularly effective in treating anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, phobias and suicidal ideation.

DBT looks at one's thoughts, emotions and behaviours and was found to be efficacious in stabilizing and controlling self-destructive behaviours.  DBT focuses on both acceptance and change and will teach you to accept that you are doing the best you can, all while acknowledging that there are things you can do to improve your life and well-being. 

DBT is well supported in research and has been found to be most effective in helping individuals with borderline personality disorder and suicidal thoughts.

EFT is based on the premise that emotions are key to your identity and guide your individual choices and decision making. This type of therapy assumes that not being in tune with one's emotions or emotional avoidance can cause psychological distress.

The goal of EFT is to prioritizes your emotions and teach you how to effectively regulate and validate your emotions. This approach is most often used in couples counselling, but is also effective in treating depression, anxiety and trauma.

Self-compassion directly targets feelings of shame and self-criticism, which are known to lead to poor mental health. The goal of implementing self-compassion in therapy is to teach you how to self-soothe and reduce negative self-appraisal. It has shown to be effective in dealing with shame, self-esteem related issues, body image and more.

Mindfulness has proven to be effective in helping individuals understand their suffering and welcome unpleasant emotions as they are through acceptance. It has shown promising results in reducing anxiety and depressive symptoms, improve emotional regulation and overall well-being. The goal of implementing mindfulness-based strategies is to instil healthy coping strategies that individuals may access when facing difficult life situation.

The Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) applies  research from neuroscience and attachment theory to improve interactions between couples.  PACT aims to help couples notice their reactions as they occur and learn how to better address one another's attachment needs. Instead of looking at the content of conflict, we look at each partner's psychobiological capacities to remain self-regulated and to maintain safety and security through effective mutual regulation. Dr. Stan Tatkin, the founder of PACT, proposed that partners are only as successful as their ability to interactively regulate each other’s autonomic nervous systems (Tatkin, 2003). 

Couples therapy provides the means for working with the past, present and future. Adult romantic relationships become a proxy for the other's early childhood attachment experience- no other relationship can reactivate one's earliest attachment relationships the way your romantic partner does.