NHS Talking Therapies - Isle of Wight

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is used to help people recover from distressing events and the problems they have caused (Flashbacks, upsetting thoughts or images). EMDR is recognised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence as a treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

When a person is involved in a traumatic event, they may feel overwhelmed and their brain may be unable to fully process what is going on. The memory of the even seems to be ‘stuck’ so that it remains very intense and vivid. It has been known that for some patients, whenever the memory comes to mind they can re-experience what they saw, heard, smelt and the full force of the distress again. EMDR is used to help the brain ‘unstick’ and reprocess the memory so that it is no longer so intense.

EMDR also helps to desensitise the person to the emotional impact of the memory. This is so they can think about the event without experiencing such strong feelings. It does this by asking the person to recall the traumatic event while they move their eyes from side to side, hear a sound in each ear alternatively or feel a tap on each hand alternatively. These side-to-side movements seem to effectively stimulate the ‘stuck’ processing system in the brain so that it can reprocess the information more like an ordinary memory, reducing its intensity.

Hi-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a psychological treatment. It is one of the most effective treatments for a number of common mental health problems. Hi-Intensity sessions are weekly; for 50-60 minutes each week; the total number of sessions will vary depending on progress and will be agreed individually with your therapist.

CBT can help you to get an understanding of your problems and what keeps them going, learn new ways of looking at them, and gain new skills to change and overcome these problems. It works by helping you to identify and change the patterns of thinking and unhelpful behaviours behind your difficulties in order to change how you feel. This may involve some discussion over past events that have influenced the way you think about your problems.

CBT is not a quick fix miracle cure, it can be hard work. Progress in CBT requires your commitment. It isn’t just about talking, you will also be asked to test out ideas, try out skills and write out records. A vital part of CBT is putting what you have learnt into practice between sessions.

It is hoped that by the end of the treatment you will have learnt to become your own therapist so you can practice the CBT skills learnt, making it less likely that your problems will return. If problems do arise, your skills should make it easier for you to manage them. So, it is important to keep practicing you CBT skills, even after you are feeling better.
 

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a time limited and structured therapy that is focused on treating depression that has been activated and maintained by current difficulties in relationships. IPT has 2 main objectives:
1) Reduce symptoms of depression.
2) Resolve interpersonal problems linked to the onset of depression and continuing symptoms of depression.

IPT has three main stages: the assessment stage where current difficulties and goals are discussed, the middle stage which focuses on the main area of difficulty to facilitate achieving your personal goals in therapy and resolve your depression. The final stage is ending where you can consolidate the changes you have made, reflect on the skills and resources you have built during the process of therapy.
 

Transactional Analysis is a model that will assist you in understanding the relationship you have with yourself and with the people around you. It will increase your understanding and awareness of how you interact with yourself and the significant people in your life, and how this contributes to reinforcing what you believe/have decided about yourself. It will help in discovering why you find yourself in the same types of relationships or relationships that have a similar pattern.

Answering the question you may have asked yourself, why does this always happen to me? It will also assist you in understanding how your past experiences have informed the choices the choices and decisions you have made, that appeared at the time, to be the best choices or decision but would soon end in a predictable, familiar place (such as not being appreciated, alone, hurt, in a failed or unhealthy relationship, abused, rejected, etc.). Most importantly it offers an opportunity to make changes today that will impact on how you live the rest of your life.

We cannot change the people and circumstances around us but we can change how we interact with ourselves and the people around us and this will significantly impact on how you feel about yourself, the relationships you have and your future.

The basic philosophy of TA is that we are all fundamentally OK, acceptance just as we are, decisions we have made can be changed and we all have the resources and ability to make these changes if we choose.