Supportive Treatment – Psychotherapy

In addition to medication, there are additional supportive treatments and services that are important to comprehensive treatment. These include:

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy that addresses individual needs, in addition to medication, has been shown to be more effective than medication alone. For many people who have a mental health condition, and for their families, psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is an important part of the treatment plan. Therapy is usually conducted by a licensed psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, or counselor and is designed to meet the specific needs of the person seeking help.

There are several types of psychotherapy, including but not limited to:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – an approach that helps the person focus on his or her current problems and how to solve them
Family-Focused Therapy – an approach which brings the family into the treatment in order to improve understanding of the mental health condition, reduce stigma, and strengthen support
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) – an approach that is designed to provide proactive support to people who have been released from the hospital. ACT treatment can help people make the transition from a recent hospitalization to being an active member of the community. This includes helping with basic needs, such as food, clothing, budgeting, and finding employment and transportation, as well as other kinds of individual counseling
Support Groups – These comprise people who either have a mental health condition or are family members of people who have a mental health condition. Support groups are often educational in nature, and they can foster camaraderie. Many people feel comfortable sharing personal details in support groups because they do not worry about being judged
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)- is a comprehensive cognitive behavioral treatment that focuses on problem solving and acceptance-based strategies within a framework of dialectical methods. The term dialectical refers to processes that synthesize opposite concepts such as change and acceptance. DBT strives to simultaneously support people as they work to accept themselves while facilitating the development of techniques to help them achieve goals with the support of a mental health professional.