Methods

(CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that is based on the assumption that the way we think about specific situations (what significance we give to events) affects how we feel, how our body reacts and how we behave. Therapy focuses on present and is focused on solving the problem. The past becomes the focus of attention only to understand established patterns of thinking, emotions and behavior. CBT assumes that if we have learned certain patterns, we can also unlearn them and learn new, more functional patterns. We learn based on our own experience and observations. Changing dysfunctional patterns to more realistic and functional ones improves our well-being, increases our ability to cope with difficulties, and thus contributes to increasing life satisfaction.

ACT belongs to the so-called III wave of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which also includes DBT and MBCT. Therapy focuses on aspects such as the patient’s value system, mindfulness and acceptance. ACT is based on the assumption that mental suffering is caused primarily by emotional avoidance and excessive absorption by one’s own thoughts, which leads to suffering of functioning and, as a result, prevents undertaking of actions necessary to achieve basic values and goals. The main goal of therapy is to increase mental flexibility. Therapeutic strategies are based on acceptance, mindfulness and combined with strategies to change dysfunctional behavior into functional and in line with personal values and goals.

System Therapy is based on the assumption that each family system is characterized by individual, unique organization of life and the arrangement of mutual relations between its elements, which is why the behavior of one family member is explained and understood by observing the entire family system. Mental problems arise as a result of improper coping with difficulties and periodic stress by the family system. They are sustained by dysfunctional patterns of family relationships. The therapy process seeks to strategically change these patterns.

DBT belongs to the so-called III wave of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which also includes ACT and MBCT. In addition to the basic cognitive-behavioral interactions, DBT therapy uses new strategies based on acceptance (the patient learns to trust and believe in his own resources) and dialectic strategies (dialectic is defined in DBT as reconciling opposites in a continuous process of synthesis). The basic principle in DBT therapy is the need to accept the patient as it is in the context of attempts to teach how to change (acceptance instead of change). The therapy was created for people with borderline personality disorder, who often discontinued the therapy, claiming that due to the therapist’s emphasis on change they felt invalidated and “punished the therapist” by lack of commitment, and eventually discontinued the therapy. Currently, DBT is more widely used. The therapist’s dialectical thinking is a prerequisite for changing the patient’s non-dialectic, dichotomous and rigid thinking style. The therapy aims to reformulate dysfunctional behaviors and focus on actively solving problems with an emphasis on validating current emotional, cognitive and behavioral responses.

Mindfulness is a special kind of attention – conscious, non-judgmental and directed to the present moment. (Kabat-Zinn, 1990)
Attentive presence consists in fully focusing on what is happening here and now – on current sensations, thoughts and emotions.
“Thanks to mindfulness we gain many opportunities to rise above the well-established ruts of our learned, habitual and often unverified processes of thinking and emotional response” (Kabat-Zinn, 2002)

Mindfulness is the opposite of thinking:
in depression – focusing on the past and drawing negative conclusions about yourself
in generalized anxiety disorder – absorbing predictions about what can happen

Scheme is a mental structure of key importance in maintaining the persistence of mental disorders. It is: “a comprehensive, general theme, a content theme concerning the individual’s self, his relationship with the environment, formulated in childhood, developed throughout his life and largely dysfunctional for the individual” (Young, 2003). Early patterns belonging to a given domain make it difficult to meet specific needs – in the past they helped “survive”, but in adulthood they became stiff and maladaptive. Specific schemes trigger various PROCESSES to deal with them (by giving up, avoiding, compensation), which are reflected in the so-called ACTIVE SCHEME STYLES (e.g. “angry child style”, “sensitive child style”, “parenting style”).