Psychodynamic therapy helps you understand how your past experiences and hidden (or unconscious) thoughts and feelings affect your life today. It’s based on the idea that inner conflicts (things you may not even be fully aware of) can cause emotional pain.   

Here are the three main ideas behind it: 

1. Unconscious processes: Thoughts, feelings or memories you’re not fully aware of can still affect how you feel and act.  
2. Defence mechanisms: These are unconscious habits that protect us from painful feelings, such as denial, avoidance or blaming others. While they help us cope, they can also get in the way of healing or damage relationships.  
3. Patterns from the past: How we relate to companions early in life often shapes how we relate to others now. In therapy, you explore how those early dynamics might be playing out in your current relationships and self-image. 

Psychodynamic therapy is especially effective for depression and anxiety (including long-term and treatment-resistant forms), personality disorders, social anxiety and relationship issues. It can also ease emotional distress that shows up as physical symptoms and help people with long-standing or complex mental health challenges. 

For more acute conditions like psychosis, OCD or substance use, it can be helpful but isn’t a first-line treatment and is often best combined with more structured approaches. 

DBT is a structured form of therapy designed to help people who struggle with intense emotions and self-destructive behaviours. 

It focuses on teaching practical skills to manage emotions, cope in crisis and build better relationships. It balances two ideas: accepting yourself as you are, while working towards positive change. The therapy includes weekly individual sessions and skills groups, usually over the course of a year. 

Here are the three main ideas behind it: 

1. Mindfulness: Learning to notice your thoughts and feelings without reacting impulsively, so you can respond more calmly and with clarity. 
2. Dialectical thinking: Moving away from black-and-white thinking by recognising that two things can be true at once, which helps shift stuck patterns. 
3. Validation: Acknowledging that your emotions make sense given your experiences, which helps rebuild self-worth and reduce shame.  

DBT is particularly effective for borderline personality disorder (BPD) self-harm and chronic suicidal thoughts. It reduces suicide attempts, hospital visits and is effective for young people with complex emotional needs. There’s growing evidence that DBT can also help with eating disorders, PTSD treatment-resistant depression and addiction. 

ACT is a modern talking therapy that helps people cope with difficult thoughts and feelings by accepting them rather than trying to avoid or control them. Using mindfulness and a focus on personal values, ACT encourages people to make space for discomfort while still moving toward what matters most in their lives. It’s based on three core ideas: 

1. Cognitive defusion: Learning to see thoughts (like “I’m useless”) as mental events, not truths. For example, “I’m having the thought that I’m useless.” 
2. Acceptance: Allowing painful feelings to be there without fighting them, reducing the added suffering caused by avoidance. 
3. Values and committed action: Identifying what matters to you (e.g. connection, honesty, creativity) and taking steps toward it, even in the presence of discomfort. 

ACT is effective for anxiety, depression and chronic pain. It’s also used for long-term conditions, work-related stress and low mood linked to illness. There’s growing evidence it helps with OCD, PTSD and emotional disregulation after psychosis, though it’s often used alongside other treatments. It may not suit people who prefer a more direct, problem-solving style. 

Counselling is a type of talking therapy where a counsellor listens to you and helps you find ways to cope with emotional issues. It focuses on understanding your feelings and thought processes, offering support without judgement or advice.  

Counselling can help with: 

• Mental health conditions like depression 
• Physical health challenges, such as infertility 
• Difficult life events (e.g. bereavement, relationship breakdown) 
• Emotional struggles like low self-esteem or anger 
• Identity issues, including sexual identity. 

Person-centred counselling is a type of talking therapy based on the idea that everyone has the potential to grow, change and become their true self if given the right support. It focuses on creating a safe, non-judgmental space where you lead the sessions, not the counsellor. You’re encouraged to talk about whatever is on your mind, at your own pace. The counsellor offers: 

1. Unconditional positive regard: accepting and valuing you without judgement 
2. Honesty and openness: being real and transparent with you 
3. Empathy: deeply understanding how you see and experience the world. 

How it helps: 

• You explore your feelings, beliefs and experiences to gain self-awareness 
• You discover your own strengths, choices and solutions 
• You build confidence and independence. 

Pluralistic Therapy treats the client as the expert in their own life. It’s built on shared decision-making and collaboration, where therapist and client work together to decide what approach or technique might be most helpful. The idea is that no single method works for everyone and different people may need different things at different times. 

Pluralistic therapy can be effective for depression, anxiety, trauma and relationship issues. It’s also used in young people counselling, university mental health services.