MICHAEL CABALLERO, LCSW, PLLC
CAN HELP YOU UNDERSTAND

Sometimes, we get overwhelmed by situations, circumstances, and various life events. Let me help steer you through these challenging times. At Michael Caballero, LCSW, PLLC, we offer anxiety, grief, and depression counseling to both individuals and groups throughout Niagara Falls, Lewiston, NY, and all of Niagara County.

Keep reading to learn more about the therapeutic approaches and counseling services I offer and contact me to schedule a visit.

CONTACT ME

UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOTHERAPY & COUNSELING | SERVING NIAGARA FALLS, NY & ALL OF NIAGARA COUNTY

Finding a psychotherapist that is right for you can be a difficult task, particularly if psychotherapy is new to you. Psychotherapy involves many approaches. Some of the techniques I am proficient at are explained below, so you have a better understanding of my practice.

COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a practical approach that seeks to define concrete goals and uses active techniques to reach them. The cognitive-behavioral therapist looks at patterns of thinking and behavior and how these patterns are reinforced and maintained by the person within his or her environment. A functional analysis of thinking and behavior is performed, often using log sheets and graphs to better understand thought and behavior patterns in the context of daily routines. Once an understanding of symptoms and behavior is achieved, the therapist and client together devise changes in the patterns and continue tracking. This process is repeated until the original goals are met. Attention to irrational thinking patterns (e.g., automatic thoughts, catastrophic thinking) is central to the approach as well.

Some of the techniques and programs that are usually associated with CBT are relaxation training, systematic desensitization, assertiveness training, and social skills training.

HUMANISTIC-EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

Humanistic psychotherapy is an approach which tries to do justice to the whole person, including mind, body and spirit. It represents a broad range of therapeutic methods. Each method recognizes the self-healing capacities of the client. The humanistic psychotherapist works towards an authentic meeting of equals in the therapy relationship.

Existential psychotherapy aims at enabling clients to find constructive ways of coming to terms with the challenges of everyday living. The focus is on the client’s concrete, individual experience of anxiety and distress leading to an exploration of their personal beliefs and value system, in order to clarify and understand these in relation to the specific physical, psychological and socio-cultural context. The experience and influences of the past, present and future are given equal emphasis. The questioning of assumptions and facing up to the possibilities and limitations of living is an important part of this interactive, dynamic and direct approach. Four "existential problems" are cited as the core of the existential struggle that is the primary focus in this therapy and considered to be at the root of most psychological difficulties: death, freedom vs. responsibility, isolation, and meaninglessness. There are no absolute solutions to the existential problems, yet all of us have to come to terms with them. The names most associated with Existential Psychotherapy (not Existential Philosophers like Sartre and Kierkegaard) are Rollo May, James Bugental, and Irvin Yalom.

PSYCHODYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

Sigmund Freud is credited as the founder of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic theory, if not modern psychology. There have been a multitude of variations that have evolved, and the term most often used to broadly encompass these approaches is "psychodynamic." Freud's original theories were based on the conflicts that he believed were at the core of human existence. These conflicts emerge from attempts to reconcile our biological selves with our social selves. Aspects of these conflicts are unconscious and influence our behavior without our awareness. Psychodynamic therapies work to make the unconscious conscious so that we can have greater insight into our needs and behavior and therefore more control over how we allow these conflicts to affect us.

INSIGHT-ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPY

Insight-Oriented Psychotherapy is a client-centered therapy. It assumes that a client’s issues maybe the result of the client’s past life experiences. The therapist helps the client identify patterns in situations in which the client feels stress or anxiety. Insight-Oriented Psychotherapy is a form of treatment that helps people through understanding and expressing feelings, motivations, beliefs, fears and desires. The understanding develops in the context of a therapeutic relationship.