Psychotherapy is not one size fits all. From behavioural to gestalt therapies, which approach will work best for you depends on your needs and goals.

Since ancient times, cultures across the world have understood that human suffering can have psychological causes. At its core, psychotherapy is working with another person to help identify and address emotional challenges that matter to you. It involves trying to understand the source of those problems and coming up with ways to tackle them head-on.

Some therapists may take a particular approach to psychotherapy, like cognitive-behavioural or psychodynamic. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist who trains and consults with many other clinicians, I often find myself fielding questions about what type of therapy would be the best fit for a particular person.

It can be difficult to understand what therapists mean when they refer to these different techniques, and which is best for you. Learning about how each of the most common approaches to psychotherapy works may help clarify what you might expect from a particular session.

Cognitive behavioural therapy

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is considered the gold standard in psychotherapy. Numerous clinical trials have found CBT to be effective for a spectrum of emotional...