Therapy is essentially a learning process, and different people learn best in different ways. Experiential therapy is a type of therapy used to help people change their behaviors by diving deep into their histories. As you might imagine, experiential therapy teaches the patient through a series of actions.

What is Experiential Therapy?

Experiential therapy is a technique that allows the patient and therapist to take a look at hard to breach topics openly. As you can imagine from the term experiential, this type of treatment involves an experience rather than discussing an experience. This type of treatment helps those with:

• Trauma
• Eating Disorders
• Substance Abuse
• Compulsive Behavior
• Grief
• Anger Management

It is also a standard tool used to treat children since they are not always able to voice their feelings. The same thing happens in adults with past traumatic experiences; experiences can become hard to talk about or even blocked. An experiential therapy program in Tacoma WA helps people to access and get through emotions that they have been repressing.

Experiential therapy also serves as another method of learning to change bad behaviors by clearing or changing a person’s perception filters. Your current experiences are based on your perception of them. If you have had bad experiences in the past and cannot let them go, your present experiences will be filtered through the bad experiences of the past, and you may not be able to find as much joy in them had you not had the past trauma.

What to Expect During Experiential Therapy

The research behind experiential therapy has shown that it helps people to improve their perceptions and in turn, improve their lives. It also involves taking part in the following activities with a qualified therapist:

• Role-Playing
• Art therapy
• Music
• Interacting With Animals

When involved in this type of treatment, you will want to find a therapist that has credentials in experiential therapy. You also want to find a therapist that you are comfortable with since you will be exploring things that your mind has locked away and may be uncomfortable for you to talk about. Experiential therapy is also offered as a group therapy program and is a great way for people to relate to each other.

When doing experiential therapies, it is essential to share your level of comfort at all times with the experience. You should also look to try many different types of experiences before settling on one or two techniques that will help to set you free.

The point of experiential therapy is to allow you to access parts of your brain and emotions that you cannot regularly. This will allow you to express and work through these emotions and thoughts that you have in a physical manner. Working through these emotions will change the way that you perceive things because you have a resolution from the negativity of those past experiences.

From this point, you will be able to be more objective about your experiences. Rather than painting them with horrors from the past, you can enjoy them or allow them to pass if needed.

Finding an Experiential Therapy Program

If you are looking into experiential therapy, then think about visiting a center that specializes that type of treatment. This way, you will have exposure to many professionals in the field. You will also have the opportunity to try many different techniques in a short period of time to see what works best for you.

Finding an experiential therapist in this manner will serve you better than having to work your way through a list of providers privately. Bayview Recovery offers experiential therapy as one-on-one treatments or in groups. Group experiential therapy can be especially powerful for patients recovering from similar issues. Give Bayview Recovery a call today at 855.478.3650 to find out more.