Cognitive Therapy for Psychosis with Ron Unger in Eugene Oregon

I am a mental health counselor who specializes in working with people who have the sorts of problems that get diagnosed as “schizophrenia,” schizoaffective disorder,” “bipolar disorder” and other “psychotic disorders.”  Much of my method is drawn from the approach known as “cognitive therapy for psychosis.”

Cognitive Therapy in general has been shown to be helpful for a wide variety of mental and emotional problems.  It is a common-sense form of talk therapy, where the therapist helps the client experiment with changing thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors in ways that might help resolve problems. While many people have been told that talk therapy is useless for the problems with experiences such as voices, paranoia and odd beliefs., there is now extensive research that shows that talking with a person who understands how to work with these problems can actually be quite helpful.

What about the relationship between this kind of therapy and medications?  Many people are already taking antipsychotic medications, but they find that big problems continue despite the medication, and they would like some other way to deal with those problems.  Other people would like to reduce or get off antipsychotic medications, or have never started medications and want to try a psychological rather than a medical approach.  Cognitive therapy has been shown to be possibly helpful in all of these kinds of cases.

What to expect from cognitive therapy for psychosis:

• Respect.  I do not assume that I know everything about what is going on or that I can tell you what to do or think.  Instead, I ask you to join with me in carefully observing and thinking about what is going on, and then you decide what you want to do to move forward.
• Goals are structured around what you want, to make your life work for you..
• Understanding.  I will work together with you to find ways to make sense of what happened and what is happening.  Cognitive therapy assumes that what is happening to you and what you are thinking and feeling always makes some kind of sense, even if it takes some time to decipher it.
• An active role for yourself:  Often people diagnosed with psychosis are simply told that there is something wrong with their brain, and that nothing can be done about it except to take medication.  Cognitive therapy is different:  you and I will work together to find alternative ways of looking at things, thinking about things, and acting, so that your problems will be reduced or resolved.

(For those who want more information on the research:  A brief summary of this form of therapy and the evidence for its effectiveness can be found at http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/mentalhealth/ebp/ap/cog-therapy-schizo.pdf . )  Or check out the article “The ABCs of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Schizophrenia” by Lars Hansen MD, David Kingdon, MD, and Douglas Turkington, MD which is available at http://bit.ly/caH9F2

Family Work:

I am also very interested in working with families around these issues.  I am trained in family therapy approaches and I believe family dialogue can be very helpful in resolving problems that may contribute to, or result from, psychosis.  I prefer to work with the family including the person who has been diagnosed as having the problem, but in cases where that is not possible, I also meet with family members separately.

Details about my practice:

I am a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and I can accept a number of forms of insurance, or cash payment, in my private practice at 1257 High St. in Eugene.  I can also accept OHP in my work at Center for Family Development, which is across the street at 1258 High St.  You can call me at 541-513-1811 to get more information or to set up an appointment.

A Group:  Coping with voices, paranoia, and unusual beliefs

In this group which I facilitate, people can share experiences that are often hard to discuss elsewhere, as well as exchanging ideas about coping and recovery.  The group is friendly and non-dogmatic, and can be a great way to get new self understanding as well as learn new skills.

It meets at Laurel Hill Center.  If you are interested, please contact Tina Larson at the Laurel Hill Center at 541-485-6340 to get more details.