Therapy is about becoming more aware of yourself and your life. Most people who come to therapy are unhappy in same way about their life and want to make a positive change. This may seem straightforward enough, though it gets confusing and vague when thinking about HOW this can be done.
The most common way of doing the therapy is talking with a professional and qualified therapist. Literally a very particular, very boundaried and very wordy conversation happens. But it's not the only way - therapy can happen without talking.
A person doesn't have to talk to feel, or understand or make changes.
In fact there are many types of therapy that do not involve talking, and here are just a few...
Six types of therapy without talking...
1 - Play therapy
Play therapy uses playing as the way of communicating and bonding between the therapist and the person "in" play therapy. Playing is the way in which somebody can express themselves - for example, somebody could create a toy village and then make the villagers battle as a way of expressing anger or practising consequences for those imagery characters. As a trained children and young person's therapist who used play as the therapeutic method, I once had a four-year-old client who rarely spoke, but often wanted to use his sessions to have long pillow fights. Did I allow this? Yes! Did I make my young client explain in words what the pillow fight was about? Nope! I could his progress without needing to talk.
2 - Art therapy
As the name may suggest, art therapy uses visual art media as the main form of expression in therapy, alongside talking with the therapist (if somebody wanted to talk). Art therapy is different to art class or practicing art as a hobby because the focus of art therapy is understanding emotions and situations. The focus of creating art in an art class is practising techniques or creating something that may be enjoyed by others. Art therapy is less about what is made or how it's made, and rather about the process of making it and the secondary effects of creating.
3 - Music therapy
Music is so powerful that it's used beyond therapy as a legitimate medicine. Sometimes (so I'm told) the music therapist may take a back seat and allow the person "in" therapy to express themselves, very similar to art therapy and play therapy, but other times the music therapist may take a very active role and direct the therapy by performing, which is very unlike art or play therapy.
4 - Animal-assisted therapy
Yes, please! Animal-assisted therapy involves working together with a professional (human) therapist and a trained therapy animal, usually a dog or horse, but sometimes a rabbit, bird or pig and even more types of animals. Animals are effective to work with because they are naturally empathic and non-judgemental. They can be cuddled and stroked and are very gentle. Animals offer something special because they are great at caring and can also be cared for (washed and fed), which is totally unique in therapeutic relationship. And - no talking needed!
5 - Writing therapy
Writing therapy has much in common with talking therapy because they both use words, words that limiting by their nature. Writing can be great for people who feel they are better at communicating and expressing themselves by writing their thoughts. Writing therapy is facilitated by a professional therapist through prompts, exercises and "writing a conversation". Writing therapy is not journalling - journaling is often free-form and done alone, not to be shared. Writing therapy happens together with another person, using words (but still not talking exactly).
6 - Acupuncture therapy
Acupuncture is the practice is puncturing the skin in specific places with tiny needles to simulate nerves, tissues and muscles. The rationale that without simulation acupuncture points become blocked and lead to poor emotional and psychical health is central in acupuncture. Acupuncture therapy is a merge of medicine and therapy. It's prescribed as medical treatment, but can also be used for the sole purpose of relieving stress and "unlocking" emotions, which is therapeutic and doesn't involve talking.
These six ways of having therapy are just a few examples of ways that are free from the limits of talking. There are a lot more than just these six!
Talking is just one way of expressing oneself, understanding oneself and developing a relationship with another person (or animal). Find what works for you!
Written by Lily Llewellyn
1st November 2024
Lily is a psychotherapist trained and educated in person-centred counselling and a trained life coach. Her areas of interest include our relationships with ourselves and others as well as the ways in which we relate to objects, such as food and money, and activities, such as shopping and work.
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