Dr. C Psychology

Evidence-Based Therapy

So what is evidence-based therapy? Evidence-based therapy (EBT), often sometimes referred to in a broader sense as "Evidence-based practice" (EBP) essentially refers to any therapy that has been based on peer-reviewed scientific evidence. The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies defines evidence-based practice as "adherence to psychological approaches and techniques that are based on scientific evidence." Similarly, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association define  EBT and EBP as "best practice and 'preferred approaches for psychological symptom treatment."

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My academic training in EBTs helped me decide early on that I wanted to center my private practice on evidence based practice to give my clients the best treatment experience possible. Additionally, my background as a psychologist for the Department of  Veterans Affairs gave me significant exposure and training to a wide variety of EBTs to include the following:

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-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression and Anxiety (CBT-D/CTB-A)

-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

-Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

-Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depression (IPT)

-Behavioral Activation (BA)

-Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

-Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

-SAMHSA Anger Management 

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Having a firm understanding and training in EBTs allows me to be flexible with treatment approaches, offering my clients flexible and personalized therapy plans to help them achieve their goals.

What separates psychologists from many other types of therapists is that they receive extensive training in diagnostics and psychological testing. Diagnoses are helpful for several reasons: they offer a name to a cluster of symptoms a person may be experiencing, they inform treatment/therapy planning, and they can influence the types of medications that other practitioners may prescribe. 

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Often times, symptoms can manifest in a variety of ways, across and within genders and across the lifespan. Additionally, people may often have medical issues that complicate their mental health symptoms and vice versa. This is why it is critical to have a provider who is able to differentiate between overlapping symptoms and also recognize when comorbid issues are occurring. 

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Sometimes, psychologists will utilize psychological testing to clarify a diagnosis. A psychologist's training is unique in that they are  required to take extensive coursework in psychological testing and are required to complete a significant number of clinical training hours utilizing a variety of testing instruments. Such testing instruments can be used to obtain a person's IQ, personality structure, and also assess for the presence of a learning disability.

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I have extensive experience in providing a variety of tests to help my clients clarify complicated diagnoses, make treatment recommendations, and often times, recommendations for academic accommodation. I have also worked with other child protective service organizations to assist with court-mandated evaluations. Whatever the referral question may be, I do my best to work closely with my clients to determine their psychological testing needs and customize the most appropriate psychological testing battery.