Treatment

WHAT DOES TREATMENT INVOLVE?

The first several appointments will focus on understanding your concerns and then on creating specific treatment goals based on those concerns. In most cases, Dr. Mayer will provide cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Each individual session is 45 or 75 minutes long, and people typically meet with Dr. Mayer for 8–12 sessions. Initially, treatment is often weekly and then becomes less often over time.

Therapy is mainly provided virtually via the TeleHealth platform Jane. This allows you to attend therapy from the comfort of your own home without worrying about travelling time, costs and weather concerns.

However, due to new rules put in place by the Ministry of Health as of Dec 1st, 2022, Dr. Mayer must have one In Person Visit to be allowed to provide virtual therapy. This In Person Visit usually occurs in Stratford, Exeter or London, Ontario.

Each session will involve setting an agenda to ensure that anything you want to discuss is covered and to ensure that time is spent helping you move toward your treatment goals. Typically, people will have homework to try out between sessions and will then report back to their therapist.

WHAT IS CBT?

CBT is based on several core principles, including:
Psychological problems are based, in part, on faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking.
Psychological problems are based, in part, on learned patterns of unhelpful behaviour.
People suffering from psychological problems can learn better ways of coping, relieving their symptoms and becoming more effective in their lives.

CBT treatment usually involves efforts to change thinking patterns. These strategies might include:
Learning to recognize one’s distortions in thinking that create problems and then reevaluate them in light of reality.
Gaining a better understanding of the behaviour and motivation of others.
Using problem-solving skills to cope with difficult situations.
Learning to develop a greater sense of confidence in one’s own abilities.

CBT treatment also usually involves efforts to change behavioural patterns. These strategies might include:
Facing one’s fears instead of avoiding them.
Using role-playing to prepare for potentially problematic interactions with others.
Learning to calm one’s mind and relax one’s body.

Not all CBT will use all of these strategies. Rather, the therapist and patient work together collaboratively to understand the problem and develop a treatment strategy.

CBT places emphasis on helping individuals learn to be their own therapists. Through exercises in the session and “homework” exercises outside of sessions, patients are helped to develop coping skills, whereby they can learn to change their thinking, problematic emotions, and behaviour.

CBT therapists emphasize what is going on in the person’s current life rather than what has led up to their difficulties. A certain amount of information about one’s history is needed, but the focus is primarily on moving forward in time to develop more effective ways of coping with life.

WHY CBT?

Over the past 40 years, research has established CBT as an effective strategy for a wide range of concerns. Best-practice guidelines for anxiety & depression all recommend CBT as a first-line treatment. CBT provides specific approaches, skills, and strategies that enable people to address their concerns and improve the quality of their lives.

Dr Mayer does not provide crisis service. If you are in an emergency and require immediate attention, then you must call 911 immediately or go to your nearest emergency room