South Florida Mental Health Treatments

Mental health disorders are complex and serious issues. Each disorder presents unique challenges and must be treated accordingly. At Banyan, we offer various South Florida mental health treatment programs which can help our patients address all of their issues so that they can live happier and healthier lives. While mental illnesses cannot be “cured,” they can be effectively managed.


Our Mental Illness Treatment Methods in Boca

Within the various levels of care offered at our facilities for mental health, patients participate in therapeutic programming for multiple hours a day, multiple days a week, if not every day. Our treatment methods for mental health include various therapeutic programs. This is because we understand that, depending on the patient, some methods will be more effective than others.


Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT):


Our Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Boca helps to address problems with a proactive approach. This therapy doesn’t dig up the past but rather focuses on the future. The principles of CBT involve assisting clients in recognizing and combating their negative thoughts, learning fresh coping mechanisms, and developing positive behaviors to replace their negative ones.

CBT is a goal-oriented and time-limited approach that emphasizes active participation from the client. The therapist and client collaborate to establish clear objectives, create a treatment plan, and periodically assess development. Numerous mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, have been successfully treated using CBT. Patients learn how to solve many of life’s problems by changing thought patterns or habits. Therapists will sit with the patient and work together to identify the patient’s problems. Then, the therapist will help identify how new patterns of thought or behavior can address these problems.


Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)


Dialectical Behavioral Therapy helps patients find a balance between opposing views in their lives. The method was originally developed to treat borderline personality disorder but has since been used to treat a range of mental health conditions. It utilizes two major techniques to help patients accept and regulate their emotions to better change behaviors. Acceptance techniques help patients understand why they engage in certain behaviors. Change techniques help patients replace these unwanted behaviors with more positive actions.

The components of DBT include four core modules: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Being mindful involves being present in the moment without passing judgment. Distress tolerance skills help individuals learn how to cope with intense emotions and difficult situations without resorting to self-destructive behaviors. Emotion regulation skills teach individuals how to identify, understand, and change their emotional responses. Interpersonal effectiveness skills focus on developing communication and relationship skills. Self-harming behaviors, suicidal thoughts, and signs of despair and anxiety have all been proven to decrease with the use of DBT, a highly structured therapy that includes both individual and group sessions.


Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFT)


Our Solution-Focused Brief Therapy for mental health takes a solution-based, rather than problem-solving, approach to therapy. Typically, it is used in conjunction with other therapies. The therapist helps the patient understand the core idea that change is constant, and the future is more important than one’s history. SFBT helps patients build solutions to reach their goals.

Instead of concentrating on a client's issues or weaknesses, it identifies and builds on their strengths, assets, and triumphs. The therapist's job is to assist clients in finding their own solutions because the therapy is predicated on the notion that people are capable of solving their own difficulties.

Scaling, miracle, and exception questions are some of the solution-focused brief therapy techniques employed for patients. Using scaling questions, clients can rate their current state and determine what needs to change to feel better. Miracle questions urge clients to imagine a scenario where their problems are fixed and describe what that might look like. Clients can use exception questions to identify instances when their problems were absent or less severe and consider what was different in those instances.


Reality Therapy


Our Reality Therapy Program in Boca focuses on the here and now, rather than digging up the past. With this therapy, patients focus on making sure their basic needs are met. Reality therapy asserts that mental distress is not caused by mental illness, but rather it is caused by failure to have basic psychological needs met. It is based on the idea that individuals have the power to control their thoughts and actions and that their behavior is driven by their choices rather than external factors.

The therapist's job is to foster a safe, accepting environment in which the patient can examine their current behavior and implement healthy adjustments. The basic tenets of reality therapy include the notion that people need to feel loved and included, powerful and successful, and free and independent. Setting clear objectives, creating action plans, and accepting responsibility for one's actions are all stressed during therapy.

This program can help patients in many ways. It acts as a self-help approach and gives patients more effective control over their lives. This helps boost confidence and self-esteem, thus improving coping mechanisms as well. With this mental health treatment method, patients are better able to control their thoughts and actions while ensuring their basic needs are met.


Group Therapy

Group therapy involves two or more patients as well as one or more therapists working together towards a common goal. This therapy approach is especially effective for psychotherapy methods, as it helps several patients identify and address their challenges in a supportive communal setting. Group therapy is also more cost-effective for many patients.

Some benefits of group therapy include the chance to interact with people going through comparable challenges, a decrease in stigma and loneliness, and the ability to acquire social support. As participants are encouraged to openly express their thoughts and feelings and provide feedback to others, group therapy can also improve self-awareness, self-esteem, and social skills.

Members can benefit from one another's experiences and acquire fresh viewpoints on their own problems. Another benefit of group therapy is that it is frequently more affordable than individual therapy, making it more available to people who might not otherwise be able to afford one-on-one therapy.


Motivational Interviewing (MI)

Our Motivational Interviewing Therapy in Boca works to give patients hope for the future. Setting and achieving big goals can be overwhelming for anyone, but this method can help make matters seem more doable. At the heart of MI lies the belief that patients have the potential for change and that the therapist's role is to help patients tap into their own internal motivation for change. In this therapy approach, patients and therapists work together to set goals. Then, the therapist helps the patient understand what they need to do to achieve those goals. This therapy is patient-driven and very verbal, helping to make the changes more attainable.

Patients can take control of their care and feel empowered to make adjustments because of this patient-driven approach. To assist patients in exploring their thoughts and feelings about the changes they wish to make, our therapists employ open-ended questions, affirmations, reflective listening, and summaries. Along with assisting the patient in identifying potential roadblocks and impediments to their goals, the therapist also works with them to come up with solutions.


Pet Therapy

Our Boca pet therapy for mental health includes visits from trained therapy animals. The calming effects of spending time with animals can help individuals feel less stress and anxiety, as well as encourage patients to be more open during treatment.

Additionally, animals give unconditional love and attention, which is very advantageous for people who might feel lonely or alienated. Interacting with animals has also been demonstrated to help lower blood pressure and heart rate, which can improve one’s general health. Numerous mental health issues, such as anxiety, sadness, and post-traumatic stress disorder, have been treated with pet therapy.



These are just some of the many South Florida mental health treatment methods our professionals offer to help patients. We address a wide variety of disorders, both individual and co-occurring. Contact Banyan today to learn how we can help you or someone you love to overcome mental health challenges.


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