When it comes to therapy, people who haven’t tried it usually have a lot of questions. Does it work? Is it worth the time and money invested? Does it make you feel better? Will it make you feel better?
I am led to believe that the answer is yes!
Everyone is different, with complex and changing needs. Therapy that evolves alongside the patient, when done well, can improve the lives of those that need it.
Conventional talk therapy has, in many cases, shown to be beneficial to patients. But what about other options? Other types of therapy outside the norm?
Hypnotherapy, meditation, therapy with animals, online therapy, virtual reality therapy, surfing, scuba diving, yoga, and many more are beginning to be recognized as viable mental and physical therapeutic options.
But the question remains the same — do they work?
In this article, we’re going to take a look at three different emerging alternative therapies that show a lot of promise.
1. Animal-Centered Therapies
Who doesn’t love quality time with furry friends? From cow cuddling to goat yoga, alternative therapies that center around spending time with and caring for animals have become super trendy.
Aside from being cute and fun, they seem to actually help people.
One group that has seen real benefits from animal-based therapies are veterans who suffer from PTSD. While effective, traditional treatment methods — including medication and exposure therapy — aren’t always enough to help veterans cope. That’s why, in recent years, there has been an explosion of small nonprofits offering alternative therapies as a supplement.
Alternatives from scuba diving with marine creatures to parrot husbandry have popped up promising help to vets, with promising results so far.
2. Meditation & Hypnosis Apps
These days there’s a digital version of everything, and therapy is no exception.
Meditation and hypnosis apps such as Headspace and Mindset have found large audiences in recent years. Hypnotherapy involves a therapist giving a spoken set of instructions to a patient. Participants are guided to a relaxed state by focusing on their breath and heartbeat. When relaxed, people are more open to suggestions. This allows therapists to introduce concepts that might be difficult, such as confidence and happiness. A 2015 study published in the Mental Health Review Journal found that cognitive hypnotherapy had a 71% success rate when used to treat anxiety and depression over six sessions.
It seems like hypnosis is more than a stage trick.
3. Virtual Reality
Chronic pain can be debilitating to your mental health. One of the newest players in the pain relief field is virtual reality therapy.
VR is so much more than just a fun piece of tech. In a New York Times piece on VR therapy, Jeffrey I. Gold, director of the pediatric pain management clinic at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, describes VR as being “like an endogenous narcotic providing a physiological and chemical burst that causes you to feel good. During VR therapy, the patient’s brain is flooded with stimuli. So much so that it can’t focus on anything else — including pain.
When coupled with traditional physical therapy, hypnosis, and cognitive behavioral therapy, VR can help people cope with pain more effectively. So while it’s not a cure for anything on its own, VR shows a lot of promise as a complementary therapy for those whose mental health is suffering due to chronic pain.
Successful therapy isn’t a destination — it’s a process. Coping with your demons and healing from your past is a journey.
Therapy doesn’t just suddenly “work” one day and you graduate to being a better human. It can be difficult and uncomfortable. It forces introspection and reflection on who you are and who you want to be. But, in the end, it should also make you feel better.
Not every kind of therapy is right for every person, which is why I think it’s great that support for different kinds of therapy is growing. While it’s normal (and honestly a good thing) to be skeptical of non-traditional therapy, I encourage you to keep an open mind!
