Science | As a licensed therapist, I use science.

If you’re like most clients, you’re considering seeing a therapist to help you feel better. Or, because you want someone else – to feel better. And you want a therapist that has interventions that work. Of course you do! That’s where the science comes in.

As a licensed therapist, I use science.

I’m licensed to provide therapy in Missouri and I’m located in St. Louis County. And as a therapist, I use Evidence-Based Practices (EBP). EBP basically means that the work I do with clients, is based on my experience, your situation and the science.

As a group, therapists have not always been good at science and research. But we’re getting better, so much better. And the science is clearly increasing the effectiveness of therapy.

The way EBP is technically described is: “a thoughtful integration of the best available evidence (the science), combined with clinical expertise (my experience) in line with your values and expectations (your goals)”. And while there can be a lot of grey in the actual doing of this, there’s also science and research.

Blah, blah, blah — the bottom line here is that your goals combined with science and experience guide what we do.

For intimate, marital and family relationships, I practice Emotionally Focused Therapy or EFT. EFT is an empirically validated treatment. Currently there are 30+ positive outcome studies for EFT. No other couples treatment comes even close to those outcome study results.

Completed and ongoing EFT research consistently shows that Emotionally Focused Therapy works for most couples. And that the results last. I’m Certified in EFT as a clinician and supervisor through the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy. Click Here for more details.

For individuals or families struggling with overwhelming experiences, I use Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I’m vetted by the Missouri Academy for Child Trauma Studies as a registered provider of this therapy) and Cognitive Processing Therapy. Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an evidence based treatment for resolving overwhelming experiences for children and young adults. Cognitive Processing Therapy is an evidence based therapy for unresolved trauma in adults.

Other important aspects are Attachment Theory (relationship challenges are often about attachment), Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Integrated Treatment for Complex Trauma and the newest advances in Neuroscience.

There are more links below. They show why the science is so important. And why as a licensed therapist, I choose to use it. Feel free to ask me directly if you have questions about any of these.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/30105808/

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(15)00495-2/fulltext

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233262492_Resolving_Attachment_Injuries_in_Couples_Using_Emotionally_Focused_Therapy_A_Three-Year_Follow-Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwsppMxR56Y

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4551056/

http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304049704579318770815965380?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304049704579318770815965380.html

http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2301405

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0079314

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25837550

http://medicine.exeter.ac.uk/research/healthserv/primarycare/projects/cobalt/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3135310/

Zambia and TF-CBT: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.0580