Types of Psychological Therapy Provided at the SCDC

At the SCDC all of our therapists tend to use a combination of both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as well as ACT therapy. We find that each person is highly individual hence we rarely decide on the style of therapy that we think it going to be beneficial for them without first meeting and talking with the person and finding out their style and needs. We find some patients have little insight into their thoughts and emotions and may need to engage in a more 'thinking' style therapy to get more into their heads and understand why they are doing certain unhelpful behaviours and why they are experiencing negative emotions. These type of patients often do well with a more cognitive-based style of therapy like CBT.

Other patients are too much in their heads, over thinking things in their lives, to the point they stop living and experiencing life. For these patients we find they need to get out of their heads and start working on what they want in their lives to achieve in a more meaningful life. These patients do better with ACT therapy which focuses on acceptance and mindfulness as a means of being more engaged in life.

We also offer family therapy if we feel that family dynamics are creating negativity in a patient's life.

For children under the age of 7 years or with those who cannot engage in a more "talking" style therapy (for a variety of reasons) we tend to offer more play-based therapy.

If children do not wish to engage in any therapy, but still have strong emotional issues, we can offer neurofeedback as an alternative. Neurofeedback is a much more non-confrontational therapy where children can train their brains to have better levels of emotional regulation. Many children who refuse a talk-based therapy have wonderful levels of success with neurofeedback as it does not require a child to face their fears or uncomfortable feelings or behaviour. Rather nerofeedback targets the root cause of the emotional issues at the level of the brain. For example, children who are depressed often have increased levels of slow brainwaves, and respond very well to having their brain activated. Children who are anxious may have an excess of fast wave, and tend to respond well to having unhelpful levels of fast wave surpassed. This is a completely non-invasive therapy, with children training their own brains to produce more desirable levels of brain waves. Research shows that children can self-regulate their brain waves and after around 30-40 sessions can have the neurofeedback removed and the brain remains regulated. Often results can be seen as early as the first or second session, and within 5 sessions we are usually aware of how well a child is going to respond to this type of therapy. This type of therapy is not a substitute for conventional talk-based therapy, but is often used when a talk-based therapy fails due to severe over or under-arousal stopping the child from using strategies.

Types of problems we treat

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Phobias
• Panic Attacks
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Low Self-esteem
• Anger
• Aggression
• Defiance
• Adjustment Disorder
• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder & Acute Stress Disorder