Therapy Modalities

Below are brief descriptions of theraeutic approaches I use, in addition to talk therapy (traditional psychotherapy).  Many of these mind/body therapies become tools that clients take home with them, and use long after our sessions together.  As I work with a client, I incorporate therapy modalities tailored to that individual. In addition, I teach clients techniques that empower and strengthen them in their life journeys.

Focusing:

Experiential focusing is a technique developed by Eugene Gendlin at the University of Chicago after it was discovered that people who had natural focusing skills were far more successful at achieving their goals in therapy. It is a systematic way to pay attention to your own inner voice and to learn what you need to feel happy.

Traditional Talk Therapy:

Talking about your concerns with another person who is nonjudgmental, safe, and there to be your guide and advocate can be tremendously healing. There is great value in telling our stories, identifying goals, and moving toward solutions.

Cognitive Therapy:

The way we think affects the way we feel. Often we have mental habits that are unrealistic and do not serve us well. Cognitive therapy helps us examine our thoughts and their impact on our feelings. It helps us transform negativity and to become happier and more effective.

Breathing and relaxation skills:

When our minds are agitated our bodies respond by becoming tense. We may feel anxious or depressed; we may have difficulty sleeping or making decisions. Some people develop physical stress symptoms such as headaches, stomach-aches, and muscle pain. When we learn breathing and relaxation skills, we can calm both the mind and the body.

Meditation:

There are many types of meditation including concentrative meditations that focus on a repetitive phrase or other object of contemplation and awareness or mindfulness meditation. The goals of meditation are to still the mind and to find the deeper, wiser self within. A meditation practice can lead us to knowledge of our deepest purpose and an experience of profound peace.

EFT:

Emotional Freedom Technique is a simple and rapidly effective approach based on an understanding that we hold trauma as disturbed energy in the body. In EFT we identify the issue, thought, feeling, or belief that is creating an obstacle to happiness, and clear it from the body by gentle work with associated acupuncture points.

EMDR:

Eye Movement Desensitization and Re-education. A method of clearing and resolving trauma through the use of eye movements that bilaterally activate the brain, allowing for the emergence and resolution of issues more rapidly than in traditional talk therapy alone.

Imagery and visualization:

Imagery and visualization can be used access our deepest feelings, to create a picture of what we would like to have happen in our lives, to create peace and to achieve goals.

You may contact Barbara Blitzer, LCSW-C, M.Ed. at:

Phone 301-588-6461
or
Email barbarablitzer@mac.com