Our Approach

Our Approach
At Morgan Center for Counseling, our Boca Raton Therapists will provide a nurturing environment and work with you to determine the best approach to help you reach your treatment goals.

There are many approaches that Boca Raton therapists use to achieve lasting results. A few of these approaches are outlined below.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an empirically supported “evidenced based” psychotherapeutic approach.

Simply put, cognitive theory holds that your thoughts and attitudes create your moods and not external events. Your thoughts have a tremendous impact on your emotions, but you can change the way you feel! The idea is to break free of these troublesome moods and develop a more realistic and positive attitude. The specific techniques used in therapy vary depending on the issue or problem to be addressed. The techniques are practical and easy to learn which means you can take them with you and use them daily.

Some of the work may include:

• Keeping a journal of events/occurrences and the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that go along with these events
• Testing and challenging thought processes, assumptions, perceptions and beliefs that may be unrealistic or irrational
• Gradually facing and coming to grips with activities or situations which may have previously been avoided; and trying out new ways of coping, behaving and responding.

Client Centered Therapy, developed by Carl Rogers is a non-directive approach to conducting therapy in that the therapist is not “in charge” of the session, the client is.

The client decides what to bring up and how they would like to work on issues. A client-centered therapist is less interested in performing treatments, or diagnosing, and more interested in helping you find your own answers. This approach is based on Rogers’ belief that a fundamental part of human nature is to move toward healing and growth and to find their own answers. He believed that the client-therapist relationship creates an environment that allows people to remove obstacles to their self-actualization. The key is a therapist who is understanding, accepting, and non-judgmental.

Hallmarks of this approach include:

The effectiveness of Client Centered Therapy has been proven through years of research.

More recent research has suggested that the most important factor in the effectiveness of therapy and counseling is the alliance between client and therapist, not the techniques they employ or any particular discipline they practice. The Boca Raton therapists at Morgan Counseling will determine if this modality is right for you.

EMDR is a powerful and effective tool to assist people process emotionally painful and traumatic experiences. It is successful in helping people with trauma, anxiety, panic disorder, disturbing memories, post traumatic stress, and many other issues.

EMDR is a psychotherapy technique that was developed in the late 1980’s by Francine Shapiro that uses eye movement and other protocols that have been proven to reduce the intensity of emotions and reduce the distress caused by them. Dr. Shapiro conducted scientific research and in 1989 reported on the success of EMDR methods. Since that time, EMDR has continued to evolve through the work of therapists around the world and has developed into a standardized protocol that incorporates many treatment techniques.

Research and therapist experience show that EMDR helps to quickly reduce emotional distress and move the person to a more peaceful resolution of issues or events. In essence, the memory remains but the negative responses and emotional impact are diminished or neutralized.

EMDR seems to directly impact the way the brain processes information.

When someone is extremely upset the brain has a difficult time processing and often a moment, usually traumatic, becomes “frozen in time”. When remembering a traumatic event it may feel the same as experiencing it the first time. Such memories and the emotional distress negatively affect the way a person views themselves, sees the world, and relates to others. EMDR helps a person see the event in a more adaptive and less distressing way by targeting the negative memories and emotions stored in the nervous system and helping them to be processed successfully by the brain.

There are approximately 20 controlled studies that have investigated the effectiveness of EMDR. These studies are consistent in their findings that EMDR effectively decreases/eliminates symptoms of post traumatic stress for the majority of clients. Clients often report improvement in other symptoms such as anxiety.

EMDR may help the client gain understanding and self-knowledge that empowers the client to choose actions and not feel powerless over re-actions.

Long-term benefits include restoration of each client’s natural state of emotional functioning bringing a sense of personal power, more rewarding relationships, and a more peaceful life.

EMDR treatment may invoke emotions and physical sensations during session. This a normal part of the process and desirable since the technique works on negative feelings and beliefs as they are brought into the client’s awareness. The experience of these emotions is often brief and soon leaves as the process is completed. Jody Morgan, LCSW, is trained in providing EMDR therapy. Relief may occur quickly and the results for some are permanent. EMDR may or may not be right for you. Contact Morgan Counseling for a consultation.

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