- Published on 13 March 2025
Are therapist sessions just for treating mental disorders and illnesses? The straight and simple answer is that they’re not.
Although a vast majority of people seek therapy to work on some mental health issue (such as living with anxiety, coping with depression, healing from trauma etc), personal growth is also a goal for many.
Therapy in Singapore is a long-term effort where you seek to better understand yourself, your goals for life, improve your interpersonal skills, build mental resilience and become your most happy and content self.
In this article, we explore the 4 best types of psychotherapy for personal development.
This Article Contains:
What is Personal Growth?
Before we dive into the types of therapist sessions that may work best for personal growth, let’s take a brief look at what the term ‘personal growth’ means.
According to the Berkeley Well-Being Institute,
“Self-growth, sometimes referred to as ‘personal growth’ or ‘personal development,’ is a process of developing new skills, attitudes, actions, or reactions that can have a positive impact on your life and increase your overall well-being.”
It is a very subjective term and may mean different things to different people. For instance, ‘A’ may view self-growth as working on their relationships and setting better boundaries with people while ‘B’ may view self-growth as learning to stay resilient through changes in life.
4 Best Types of Therapy for Personal Growth
While therapy for particular mental health issues helps you build the toolkit to survive alongside them, therapy for personal growth is all about going from surviving to thriving. It’s about learning to live your best life.
In the sub-sections below, we discuss some widely used therapeutic approaches for personal growth.
However, it’s important to remember that most therapists may not stick to a single approach and the exact approach may be tailored by your therapist in Singapore based on your needs and goals.
1) Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy is a form of talk therapy where you talk with a therapist to unearth unconscious thought patterns and parts of the mind that you don’t understand or control.
It also involves getting in touch with your inner child and examining your relationships with caregivers during your childhood. By doing so, psychodynamic therapy in Singapore aims to map how past experiences may be affecting your current behaviours and emotions.
How it works - An example
Ana is a perfectionist who wants to be ‘capable’ of doing everything.
Through psychodynamic therapist sessions in Singapore, her therapist helps her understand her perfectionism may be a reflection of her relationship with her father.
Ana reveals that she grew up seeing her father do ‘everything’ for the family. She realises that she thus views him as the ‘ideal’/’perfect’ human being.
Ana’s therapist helps her map how she may be unconsciously comparing herself to her father, equating anything less than what he did to be imperfect.
Who is it best for
- If you’re somebody who likes talking, analysing and discovering hidden meanings, psychodynamic therapy may be just the thing for you.
- It’s essentially like solving a jig–saw puzzle of your psyche with your therapist’s guidance.
- It may also be ideal for those with unresolved childhood issues or complicated relationships with parents.
- However, it may not be the right type of therapy if you’re looking for something relatively short-term. Psychodynamic therapy is a long-term process and can take months and even years of work.
2) Humanistic therapy
Humanistic therapy is one of the best types of therapy for someone working towards personal growth.
Also known as person-centered or client-centered therapy, it is a form of therapy where the therapeutic approach is completely tailored to the person.
Humanistic therapists don’t position themselves as experts but rather as collaborators or agents in your healing journey. They are simply here to help guide you in accessing your own innate wisdom to achieve your goals.
Unlike other types of therapy where therapists may offer some strategy or technique, person-centered therapists in Singapore usually pose questions to bring out the client’s own answers and strategies that feel right to them.
Some widely-practiced types of humanistic therapy are:
- Narrative therapy
- Existential therapy
- Emotion-focused therapy
- Solution-focused therapy
- Motivational interviewing
How it works - An example
Rohan is a 30 year-old techie who has been struggling with work stress for a few years.
In one of his narrative therapist sessions in Singapore, he brings up how he has been feeling ‘dissatisfied at work’. Here’s a brief snippet of the conversation:
Therapist: “Rohan, what does satisfaction at work mean to you?”
Rohan: “Well, I think I’d say I’m satisfied with work if I feel content logging out after a long day’s work. Right now, I work so much but I end up feeling empty.”
Therapist: “Can you describe ‘feeling empty’ for me?”
Rohan: “It’s when I feel drained and exhausted. And I don’t feel connected to the work I do”.
Therapist: “Okay. Can you tell me what needs to be different for you to feel satisfied with work?”
Rohan: “I guess I’d feel better if I was doing something I’m passionate about or if I got the necessary recognition for the work that I do.”
Therapist: “What is something that you’re passionate about and that you feel thrilled at the prospect of doing, Rohan?”
Rohan: “I’ve always wanted to explore my love for art. I wish I could turn it into a full-time career.”
Therapist: “And what do you think is stopping you from doing that?”
Rohan: “I guess I’m scared of the risks involved. Oh, and also about what people might say about me leaving a six-figure corporate job to go paint the sunset.”
Who is it best for
- Are you someone who likes to be in the driver’s seat in life?
- Do you like thinking, dissecting and finding answers to questions when prompted?
- Do you generally dislike when other people suggest what you do?
If you answered yes to the above questions, humanistic therapy may be your cup of tea.
3) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely practiced therapeutic approaches in today’s world. It involves a lot of homework, and is considered a portable form of therapy that you can continue to apply in daily life beyond your therapist sessions.
CBT functions around the belief that your thoughts (cognitions) directly affect your emotions and actions. Through CBT, your Singapore therapist may guide you to identify, understand, analyse and challenge various cognitive distortions.
Cognitive distortions are negative or harmful patterns of thinking. CBT ultimately aims to ensure cognitive restructuring or reframing. Through this process, you learn to distance yourself from your thoughts and understand that they are just that – thoughts. Your thoughts can’t dictate your reality unless you let them.
CBT classifies cognitive distortions into the following ten types:
- All-or-nothing thinking
- Overgeneralisation
- Mental filtering
- Disqualifying the Positive
- Jumping to conclusions (Mind reading & Fortune teller error)
- Magnification (catastrophising) and minimisation
- Emotional reasoning
- ‘Should’ statements
- Labelling and mislabeling
- Personalisation
How it works - An example
Sam is a college student who is struggling with social anxiety and self-esteem issues. During one of their therapy sessions, Sam brings up something that has been on their mind recently.
“I hate how I’m never able to do a presentation well. I mess up everytime. Everyone must think I’m such a loser. You know, my classmate Jean? She always does it perfectly.”
Sam and their therapist in Singapore have been working on CBT for the past month.
Their therapist gently poses the following question, “Shall we take a step back and try to identify the cognitive distortions present in that line of thought?”
What cognitive distortions do you think Sam engaged in here? Let’s take a quick look at them below:
- Overgeneralisation: By using words such as ‘never’, ‘everytime’ and ‘always’, Sam is overgeneralising.
- Disqualifying the positive: They are also disqualifying the positive by looking at only the mess-up and discrediting the fact that they made a presentation despite their social anxiety and self-esteem issues.
- Magnification (catastrophising) and minimisation: By viewing their one mistake as ‘always messing up’ and their friend’s presentation skills as ‘always perfect’ Sam is engaging in both minimisation and magnification respectively.
- Jumping to conclusions (mind reading): Sam is also jumping to the conclusion that their classmates must think they are a ‘loser’ because the presentation didn’t go as well as they expected.
Who is it best for
- CBT may be ideal for those looking for relatively quicker results through therapy.
- It may also be best for people who like ‘actively doing’ something as opposed to just talking.
- CBT involves a large volume of assignments and homework and can keep you busy and grounded.
4) Eclectic Therapy
Eclectic psychotherapy combines aspects, techniques and strategies from different types of therapy.
Most modern therapists in Singapore practice some level of eclectic therapy.
Eclectic therapy offers greater flexibility and freedom for your therapist to tailor your therapeutic approach based on your unique needs and goals.
Who is it best for
Eclectic therapy may be the best choice for you if:
- You’re unsure about your goals going into therapy
- You’re unable to make a decision as to which type of therapy you’d like to choose
- You’d like to explore aspects and approaches from various types of therapy
- You’re someone who likes diversity in approach and doesn’t favour rigidity and structure
It can be hard to predict or foresee how an eclectic therapist may work. Not only does each eclectic therapist work differently, but they may also choose different approaches for different clients and even different sessions with the same client.
This is why, as you may have noticed, we have not included a ‘How it works’ section for eclectic therapy.
Due to the same reason, eclectic therapy may not be the right choice for someone who craves structure and consistency.
Conclusion
There is no single type of therapy that may work for everyone. In addition to the approaches discussed above, there are various other types of therapy that you can explore.
The right approach and the right therapist depend on a variety of factors, including but not limited to:
- Your goals for therapy – what are you looking to achieve/address, and
- Your preferences – what you feel comfortable with
Here’s a quick roadmap that you may use to find the right fit:
- Research and analyse the benefits of different types of therapy
- Shortlist the approaches that resonate with you
- Talk to a therapist specialising in these approaches
At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you find a therapist you trust and feel comfortable with.
If you’re looking to schedule a therapy session in Singapore, we recommend that you take your time to explore.
When you’re ready to start talking to therapists, Therapists at TYHO are here to help you get started on your self–growth journey!
