Tools of a Therapist

I vividly recall a particular incident from my childhood when I visited my cousins in the U.S. for the first time and was introduced to the cartoon "Bob the Builder." This experience led to a small tradition where my cousins and I would each grab our tiny packets of plastic tools and march to the TV room to pretend to fix the already functioning television. Those were the days. However, as I grew up, like many others, I eventually fell out of this tradition and largely forgot about it.

To my surprise, this childhood tradition re-emerged during my third year of undergraduate studies in the form of “therapeutic interventions” also called the tools a therapist uses. While not everyone can be a "Bob the Therapist" in someone else's life, we can at least become aware of the various tools that our own “Bob the Therapist”—meaning our therapist—can utilize. As the saying goes, “Learning about something never hurts anyone.” So, let’s take a moment to explore some food for thought, shall we?

Tool-1 (CBT a.k.a“Hammer”)

Have you ever seen yourself in a situation wherein you express your negative thoughts, anxious feelings, grief etc., to your friends? And at times the most they can do to support you is either show empathy or advise you on ways you can break out of that negative habit/feeling. Yes, peer support is essential, but Cognitive Behavioral Therapy does something more! This intervention is one of the most commonly used by Bob the Therapist, the main aim of this technique is to “change/alter all the Negative Automatic Thoughts and provide the client with certain other kinds of alternatives to cope with these kinds of situations”.

CBT also helps in treating or bettering other kinds of issues also listed below:

• Bi-polar disorders.

• Anxiety spectrum disorders.

• OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorders).

• Sleeping disorders.

• Sexual disorders.

Let's say you've already talked about your presenting problems with your therapist, whom we'll refer to as Bob the Therapist. You might be wondering what happens next, right? Therapy is a slow process. So after a few introductory sessions, along with a few case history-taking sessions, your therapist will get a basic understanding of your core issues. This is where the real work begins. Once Bob the Therapist understands your negative thinking patterns, they will offer you alternative ways to approach these negative emotions. They might ask you a question like, “Are you viewing a particular incident or person negatively based on facts, or is it a perception you’ve created for yourself?” While this question may initially feel challenging or uncomfortable, over time, your brain can be rewired to think differently on its own.

Tool-2 (Exposure Therapy a.k.a “Safety Glasses”)

This is personally my favourite kind of therapeutic intervention, just like how people always tell each other “to face your fears”, exposure therapy pretty much does help you to do that. Facing your fears is a rather difficult thing to do, but it is a very effective method to improve one’s way of living and fun fact, it is one extra step towards achieving even more confidence. Exposure therapy is most commonly used for the following:

• Phobic disorders.

• OCD (Obsessive compulsive disorders).

• Anxiety disorders.

• PTSD (Post-traumatic-stress-disorder).

Another fun fact is that even India is not only picking up on the new technological innovations but also is starting to use another method also called the “VR-exposure therapy”, to get more effective results. Thanks to the new AI innovations, the new and immersive environments can be even more used to regulate phobia disorders. For instance, If a therapist gets a client who is diagnosed with OCD, as mentioned earlier exposure therapy would be the most ideal one, and when exposure is paired with “systematic de-sensitization”. It refers to the process of “slowly/gradually exposing one to a stimulus that causes them extreme fear, and in turn helps them to face these stimulants with proper relaxation techniques”.

So in terms of the above mentioned example, exposing the client slowly to “triggering environments” such as “dirty rooms, any contaminated places etc. Some other really intriguing elements that are part of this technique is listed below:

• In vitro exposure: As the term suggests, when one imagines that the object, person, event which is causing a lot of fear in them, the more that they are exposed to it, the lessen their anxiety would get.

• Flooding: Pretty much like how floods just rush in, even this method uses the highest fear inducing event/person/thing and then goes to the lowest one.

• In vivo exposure: This is the exact opposite to “In Vitro”, wherein instead of imagining the object/event/person, they are presented with the actual stimulus.

Tool-3 (DBT a.k.a “Screwdriver”)

I used to think that DBT and CBT were somewhat like twins (just like how I can't help but make dad jokes!). But jokes apart, DBT stands for "Dialectical Behavior Therapy," which primarily focuses on certain practices that have become increasingly popular in our current era. These include mindfulness, maintaining interpersonal relationships, managing emotions, and developing strategies for tolerating stress. So what role does our therapist, affectionately referred to as "Bob the Builder," play in this? The therapist helps the client accept both the past emotions and thoughts and helps them in changing them.

So just like how we replace the Negative Automatic Thoughts in CBT therapy with more positive ones, the DBT therapy form focuses on accepting past behaviors and helps the client replace them with much better alternatives. Some common and effective techniques that are used to get results in the client are listed as follows:

• Practicing mindfulness.

• Understand how to control oneself during stressful times.

• Learn how to cope with emotions and regulate them.

• Learn how to maintain their interpersonal relationships.

  
  The DBT process might look something like this, wherein the individual needs to first-

• Understanding the negative emotion.

• Understand the reason why they feel like that? (might be because of an event)

• Thoughts that come into their mind regarding this event.

• What are the facts of the event that occurred?

• Keeping all of these points in mind, how can you come up with a different reaction/response to this incident?

In the end, I hope you find the right Bob the Therapist who will help you to make your mind, body, and life better in many ways. But therapy is a slow and rocky process, so the more patience you have, the better it will be for you! So now I am glad that you are leaving this blog post a bit wiser after learning about this new piece of information! Apart from the above tools/interventions that I have mentioned there are many more techniques that Bob the Therapist uses and some of them are even in the process of developing a much greater number of interventions. Lastly, this is a reminder for all the people out there, who are or would be in the process of finding their Bob the Builder, do make sure to find your right therapist with proper qualifications and have a lovely day ahead! Till the next blog, sayonara you lovely human beans!