Psychotherapy approaches including CBT, DBT, EMDR, and other evidence-based modalities for mental health.
1-2-3 Magic is a behavioral parent training program developed by Dr. Thomas Phelan. It emphasizes clear rules, consistent consequences, and a non-emotional, calm approach to discipline. The program helps parents manage misbehavior, encourage good behavior, and strengthen the parent-child relationship. It is widely used in families and clinical settings, particularly for children with ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, and other behavioral challenges.
Type
Behavioral Therapy
Course Length
6–12 weeks program, with follow-ups
Session Time
60–90 minutes (for workshops or therapy sessions)
Format
Group workshops
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) is a form of psychotherapy that integrates elements of eye movement therapies, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and guided imagery. ART uses sets of therapist-directed eye movements combined with visualization techniques to help patients replace distressing images and sensations with positive ones. Research suggests ART can quickly reduce symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, depression, and phobias, often in fewer sessions than traditional therapies.
Type
Trauma-Focused Therapy
Course Length
1–5 sessions typically
Session Time
60–90 minutes
Format
Individual psychotherapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of psychotherapy rooted in behavioral and mindfulness traditions. It helps individuals develop psychological flexibility by teaching them to accept unpleasant thoughts and feelings, defuse from unhelpful cognitions, clarify personal values, and commit to behavior aligned with those values. Rather than eliminating symptoms, ACT focuses on fostering resilience, reducing avoidance, and building a meaningful life.
Type
Cognitive-Behavioral
Course Length
8–16 sessions typical
Session Time
45–60 minutes
Format
Individual therapy
The ANOS Family Approach is a systemic therapy model designed to improve adolescent and family functioning by addressing communication patterns, relational dynamics, and shared goals. It emphasizes collaboration between family members, the adolescent, and the therapist to reduce conflict, strengthen bonds, and improve emotional regulation. The approach uses structured sessions, psychoeducation, and skill-building to help families navigate developmental challenges and improve long-term outcomes.
Type
Family-Based Therapy
Course Length
12–20 sessions typical
Session Time
60–90 minutes
Format
In-person
Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Parenting (ABFT-P) is an evidence-based, manualized family therapy model adapted from ABFT, designed to repair and strengthen the parent–child attachment bond. It aims to reduce adolescent distress, depression, and conflict by fostering open communication, rebuilding trust, and supporting parents in developing healthier relationships with their children. The therapy emphasizes emotion-focused discussions, parental attunement, and collaborative problem-solving to address relational ruptures and promote resilience.
Type
Family-Based Therapy
Course Length
16–20 sessions typical
Session Time
60–90 minutes
Format
In-person
Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) is a short-term, empirically supported family therapy model rooted in attachment theory. It focuses on repairing ruptures in parent–child relationships that contribute to adolescent depression and suicidal ideation. By fostering secure attachment, emotional openness, and trust, ABFT helps adolescents develop resilience and reduces psychological distress. Treatment is structured, emotion-focused, and designed for adolescents and their families.
Type
Family-Based Therapy
Course Length
16–20 sessions typical
Session Time
60–90 minutes
Format
In-person
Authoritative Parenting Training is a psychoeducational and therapeutic intervention that teaches parents to adopt the authoritative parenting style—characterized by warmth, responsiveness, and consistent, firm but fair discipline. Research shows this parenting style is linked to improved outcomes in children and adolescents, including better emotional regulation, academic performance, and lower rates of conduct problems. Training often includes modeling, role-play, skill-building, and guided practice for parents.
Type
Parent Management Training
Course Length
8–12 sessions typical
Session Time
60–90 minutes
Format
Group sessions
Behavioral Activation (BA) is a straightforward cognitive-behavioral intervention that targets the avoidance and withdrawal patterns central to depression. By systematically scheduling and reinforcing meaningful activities, BA increases contact with positive reinforcement and rebuilds routines that support mood and functioning. The approach is highly pragmatic, skills-focused, and adaptable across settings and populations, with strong evidence showing outcomes comparable to full CBT for depression.
Type
Cognitive-Behavioral
Course Length
8–16 sessions typical
Session Time
45–60 minutes
Format
Individual therapy
Behavioral Parent Training (BPT), also called Parent Management Training (PMT), is a structured intervention that teaches parents strategies to reinforce desirable child behavior, reduce disruptive behaviors, and improve parent–child relationships. Rooted in behavioral principles, it uses modeling, role-play, and homework practice. BPT has extensive evidence for reducing oppositional, aggressive, and noncompliant behaviors in children, and is considered a first-line treatment for ADHD and disruptive behavior disorders.
Type
Behavioral
Course Length
8–16 sessions
Session Time
60–90 minutes
Format
Group sessions
Bowen Family Systems Therapy, developed by psychiatrist Murray Bowen, is a long-term therapeutic model that conceptualizes the family as an interdependent emotional system. It emphasizes how patterns of interaction and anxiety are transmitted across generations and how individual functioning is shaped by family dynamics. A central concept is differentiation of self — the ability to maintain one's identity while remaining emotionally connected to the family. The therapy seeks to reduce anxiety, resolve relationship difficulties, and improve family functioning by addressing intergenerational patterns, triangulation, and emotional cutoff.
Type
Psychotherapy
Course Length
Long-term (months to years)
Session Time
50–90 minutes
Format
Individual therapy with family focus
Brainspotting (BSP), developed by Dr. David Grand in 2003, is a therapeutic approach that uses eye positions, or 'brainspots,' to access unprocessed trauma and emotional distress stored in the subcortical brain. The therapist helps the client identify relevant eye positions while simultaneously holding awareness of body sensations and emotions. By maintaining attention on these internal experiences, clients are able to process and release trauma more deeply than through talk therapy alone. BSP is rooted in somatic and neurobiological principles, overlapping with EMDR and mindfulness, and is used to treat PTSD, anxiety, depression, performance blocks, and other conditions.
Type
Psychotherapy
Course Length
Short- to medium-term (weeks to months)
Session Time
60–90 minutes
Format
Individual therapy
Brazelton Touchpoints® is an evidence-informed, strengths-based approach to early relational health and child development. The model helps caregivers and professionals anticipate predictable periods of disorganization that precede developmental leaps (“touchpoints”), reframing regressions as signs of growth rather than problems. Through collaborative, culturally responsive guidance, providers partner with families to read infant and toddler cues, support co-regulation, and scaffold routines that enhance attachment, development, and caregiver confidence across medical, home-visiting, and early education settings.
Type
Preventive Intervention
Course Length
Short- to medium-term
Session Time
30–60 minutes (brief pediatric visits) or 60–90 minutes (home/clinic sessions)
Format
Pediatric primary care
Brief Dynamic Therapy (BDT) is a short-term psychodynamic intervention that emphasizes identifying and resolving core unconscious conflicts that contribute to emotional distress and maladaptive behavior. It draws from classical psychoanalysis but condenses treatment into a focused, goal-directed format, typically lasting 12–40 sessions. BDT helps patients recognize repeating relational patterns, enhance emotional awareness, and work through defenses to achieve symptom relief and improved functioning. The therapy maintains the psychodynamic emphasis on transference, unconscious processes, and emotional expression, while applying structured, time-limited goals.
Type
Psychotherapy
Course Length
12–40 sessions (short-term model)
Session Time
45–60 minutes
Format
Individual therapy (in-person or virtual)
Brief Strategic Family Therapy – Parenting (BSFT-P) is an adaptation of Brief Strategic Family Therapy that concentrates on empowering caregivers with clear, consistent, and effective parenting while reorganizing family interactions that maintain problem behaviors. Rooted in strategic and structural family therapy, BSFT-P uses active joining, reframing, and in-session coaching to modify maladaptive patterns (e.g., permissiveness, coercive cycles, weak boundaries). The approach is highly pragmatic: it targets engagement first, strengthens parental leadership, and aligns the entire family around developmentally appropriate expectations. BSFT-P has been used in outpatient clinics, schools, and community programs to address conduct problems, oppositionality, truancy, and early substance use.
Type
Strategic
Course Length
12–20 sessions typical
Session Time
60–90 minutes
Format
In-person clinic
Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) is a short-term, evidence-based family intervention developed for children and adolescents with behavioral problems, emotional difficulties, or substance use issues. It integrates structural and strategic family therapy approaches, focusing on identifying and altering maladaptive family interaction patterns (e.g., alliances, boundaries, escalation cycles) that contribute to the maintenance of youth problems. Therapists actively join with each family member, reframe problems to reduce blame, and coach families in-session to implement new, more adaptive interactional sequences. BSFT has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing externalizing disorders, adolescent substance use, and family conflict, and is widely implemented in community, outpatient, and justice-involved settings.
Type
Strategic
Course Length
12–20 sessions typical
Session Time
60–90 minutes
Format
In-person clinic
CBT-E (Enhanced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) is a manualized treatment designed specifically for eating disorders. It focuses on breaking the day-to-day patterns that maintain symptoms, such as dieting/restriction, binge eating, purging, body checking, and overvaluation of weight and shape. CBT-E is practical and action-oriented, with clear session goals and between-session practice. It is not a substitute for medical stabilization, and some people with severe medical risk or very low weight may need a higher level of care or a different treatment plan before or alongside CBT-E.
Type
Individual psychotherapy
Course Length
Typically 20 sessions for many non-underweight presentations
Session Time
50–60 minutes
Format
In-person therapy
The Chicago Parent Program (CPP) is a group-based parenting intervention developed with input from African American and Latino parents to ensure cultural relevance and accessibility. It emphasizes positive parenting strategies such as praise, encouragement, and consistent discipline, while reducing harsh or inconsistent practices. The program is delivered in small groups using video vignettes, group discussion, and home practice assignments. CPP has been shown to improve child behavior, increase parenting confidence, and reduce parenting stress across diverse populations, including low-income families.
Type
Behavioral
Course Length
12 sessions (weekly)
Session Time
2 hours
Format
Group-based
Child–Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) is a dyadic, attachment-based therapeutic intervention that focuses on strengthening the relationship between a young child (typically ages 0–6) and their caregiver. Developed by Alicia Lieberman and colleagues, CPP integrates attachment theory, developmental psychology, trauma theory, and cognitive–behavioral techniques. It is particularly indicated for families who have experienced trauma, domestic violence, loss, or attachment difficulties. Treatment involves joint caregiver–child sessions, with an emphasis on improving communication, repairing disruptions in attachment, and promoting emotional regulation. CPP has a strong evidence base demonstrating effectiveness in reducing child behavioral and emotional symptoms, improving attachment security, and supporting caregiver mental health.
Type
Psychotherapy
Course Length
12 months average (can range 20–75 sessions)
Session Time
60–90 minutes
Format
In-person
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a structured, goal-oriented psychotherapy that emphasizes the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Developed by Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis, CBT helps individuals recognize and challenge distorted cognitions and replace them with healthier, more adaptive patterns of thinking and acting. It is typically short-term (12–20 sessions), skills-based, and has been adapted into many specialized forms (e.g., CBT-I for insomnia, TF-CBT for trauma, and exposure-based CBT for anxiety disorders). CBT is one of the most empirically validated psychotherapies and is effective across a broad spectrum of mental health conditions.
Type
Cognitive
Course Length
12–20 sessions standard
Session Time
45–60 minutes
Format
In-person
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is the first-line, evidence-based treatment for chronic insomnia. Unlike general CBT, CBT-I is tailored specifically to sleep difficulties and includes strategies such as stimulus control, sleep restriction therapy, relaxation training, and cognitive restructuring. CBT-I has been shown to be as effective as, or more effective than, pharmacological sleep aids in the long term, with sustained benefits after treatment completion. It is effective across populations, including older adults, individuals with comorbid depression or anxiety, and those with chronic medical conditions.
Type
Cognitive
Course Length
6–8 weekly sessions standard
Session Time
30–60 minutes
Format
In-person
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The information provided here is for educational purposes only and should not replace professional medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider before starting any new treatment.