Therapy is a word that covers a very broad spectrum. Nowadays there is an ever increasing amount of services that can be offered to help an individual with a specific difficulty.
Depending on what your problem is, or what it is you want to achieve there will be a specialist in that field.
For mental health problems, depression etc, talking therapies are recommended. This can range from talking with a counsellor, for mild problems, to talking with a psychologist or psychiatrist for more long term deep rooted problems. For more phobic specific depressions or anxiety there is a therapy that is becoming more and more popular which is called CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy.
The idea of CBT is to help change your thinking, by challenging and changing your automatic negative thoughts. It is a very successful treatment.
For Seasonal Affective Disorder SAD, light therapy is recommended, this can be attained by using a special lamp with stronger bulbs, for example, domestic lighting usually emits 200 – 500 lux but a bright summers day can be 100,000 lux. Light therapy has proven to be very effective in the treatment of SAD which usually occurs during the darker months. As these light units can be quite expensive to buy, some companies offer a trial period so you can see if the therapy works for you before you commit.
For physical problems, caused by age, illness or an accident, physiotherapy may be offered. Physiotherapy helps maximise movement through therapeutic exercise, massage and electro-physical modalities. Nowadays physiotherapists use a range of advanced technology to aid their work, hydrotherapy is often used in this field.
Your local GP or healthcare specialist will be able to advise you of which therapy may be beneficial to you, you may only be able to see some specialists with a referral from your doctor.
