Home --> AJ's Place: The Shelter Plan --> Therapy

Psychotherapy Outlets

A huge part of what AJ's Place: The Shelter will have is multiple psychotherapy outlets. Anything you can think of will be readily available for kids to choose for an outlet. The only thing will initially be how to afford to bring it all to the shelter, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

On the pages that follow, you will eventually find all of the information you can get on any and all kinds of psychotherapy that there is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Psychotherapy: An overview of the types of therapy

Psychotherapy is a general term for a way of treating mental and emotional disorders by talking about your condition and related issues with a mental health professional. It's also known as talk therapy, counseling, psychosocial therapy or, simply, therapy.

Through psychotherapy sessions, you may:

* Learn about the causes of your condition so you can better understand it.
* Learn how to identify and change behaviors or thoughts that adversely affect your life.
* Explore relationships and experiences.
* Find better ways to cope and solve problems.
* Learn to set realistic goals for your life.

Psychotherapy can help alleviate symptoms caused by mental illness, such as hopelessness and anger, so that you can regain a sense of happiness, enjoyment and control in your life.

Psychotherapy can be short-term, with just a couple of sessions, or it can involve many sessions over several years. It can take place in individual, couples, family or group sessions. Sometimes psychotherapy is combined with other types of treatment, such as medication.

Common types of psychotherapy include:

Art Therapy

Art therapy, also called creative art therapy, uses the creative process to help people who might have difficulty expressing their thoughts and feelings. Creative arts can help you increase self-awareness, cope with symptoms and traumatic experiences, and foster positive changes. Creative art therapy includes music, dance and movement, drama, drawing, painting and even poetry.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is a form of behavior therapy that deliberately exposes you to the very thing that you find upsetting or disturbing. It's especially useful for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. Under controlled circumstances, exposure to the event or things that trigger your obsessive thoughts or traumatic reactions can help you learn to cope with them effectively.

Play Therapy

Play therapy is geared mainly for young children at specific developmental levels. It makes use of a variety of techniques, including playing with dolls or toys, painting or other activities. These techniques allow children to more easily express emotions and feelings if they lack the cognitive development to express themselves with words.

Thank you to mayoclinic.com for the above information!

Also included on this site are:

Music Therapy
Animal-Assisted Therapy