Different types of therapy for anxiety and depression

Depression and anxiety can be incredibly debilitating, impacting all areas of your life, including your relationships, work-life, growth, and ability to function day-to-day.

In recent years, cases of anxiety and depression have reached an all-time high, in men and women of all ages. This increase in anxiety disorders has been attributed to several different factors including the growing use of social media, poor sleeping habits, financial stress, fear of infection following Covid-19, substance abuse, and other demographic changes.

If you’re experiencing anxiety or depression, you don’t need to suffer in silence - there are a range of therapies that can be used to treat and manage the many symptoms that can be triggered by anxiety and depression.

More people than ever before are turning to therapy as an effective means of managing their depression and anxiety, if you know someone suffering with anxiety, we've created a guide on how to help people with anxiety.

We’ve taken a look at some of the most popular forms of therapy for anxiety and depression

Cognitive-behavioural therapy

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective and popular form of therapy that is used to delve deep into a person’s behaviours, thoughts and feelings, in order to address the root causes of their anxiety or depression.

As part of this process, a cognitive-behavioural therapist works with their client to uncover unhealthy thought patterns that are linked to destructive behaviours. Used to treat and manage anxiety, bipolar, depression and eating disorders, the main goal of CBD is to alter a person’s behaviours and beliefs, in order to help them live a happier and healthier lifestyle – both mentally and physically.

Exposure therapy

Exposure therapy is another form of CBT that is frequently used to treat and manage common conditions such as PTSD, phobias, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression.

The main purpose of this therapy is to unearth the triggers that are responsible for a person’s fear and anxiety and to help the person understand how to react when exposed to these triggers.

Interpersonal therapy

Many people’s anxiety and depression stem from the breakdown of their relationships, whether that’s at home, work, school, college or university.

With this in mind, interpersonal therapy has been designed to help people work on their relationships by evaluating their social interactions, in order to pinpoint negative social interactions and patterns that are impacting their mental health.

An interpersonal therapist will help their client build positive relationships by showing them how to interact in a positive way.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy can be an effective way to help with depression, anxiety, and low mood, we've created a guide outlining the best hypnotherapy techniques for stress and anxiety. Hypnotherapy involves using therapeutic words, phrases, or techniques to help an individual enter a state of altered consciousness, easing them into a calm and relaxed state of mind.

Hypnotherapy has been shown to be especially helpful to patients with anxiety, when combined with other types of therapy, such as CBT and exposure therapy. If you're interested in learning more, we take a look at whether hypnotherapy can help with anxiety and stress.

Psychodynamic therapy

Finally, psychodynamic therapy has been designed to help an individual with depression or anxiety to address negative patterns of behaviour that stem from trauma or bad experiences in the past.

As part of this process, a therapist will ask their client a number of strategically devised questions in order to understand how these experiences have had such a negative impact on an individual’s life.

There has been a significant amount of research that has indicated that this form of therapy can help to treat and manage a vast range of mental health issues and personality disorders

Whether you have mild depression and anxiety or severe depression and anxiety, it’s vital that you seek the help and support you need to overcome your problems.

If you're interested in becoming a therapist to help people with depression and anxiety, then check out our counselling and hypnotherapy courses. Get in touch with us today to see how you can make a difference.