THERAPY APPROACHES

Every approach,
in one place.

This page lists every therapy approach on the site. Each one is read through a disability lens: what it notices, what it can offer, and what it can miss.

You don’t need to know which approach you want. Choose a starting point below.

New to therapy?Start with what psychotherapy is, what happens in it, and what changes when disability is part of life.
Compare approachesFourteen approaches side by side: what each notices, offers and can miss.
All approaches A–ZAlready know what you’re looking for? Go straight to the full list.

Start by who you are

Three short routes into the same library. Pick the one closest to you; you can read anything else on the site whenever you like.

If you’re disabled, or living with a disability or long-term condition
You don’t need to choose a therapy before you start. These pages explain what different therapies involve, what adjustments you can ask for, and how to tell whether therapy is working for you. Therapy can be a place for connection, clarity and pride, not only for problems.
If you’re a therapist, trainee or researcher
Each approach page sets out what it notices about disability, what it can miss, practical adaptations and the evidence. The comparative cases follow the same client through several approaches, so you can see where each one helps and where it falls short.
If you’re a carer or supporter
Supporting someone can bring closeness and meaning, and it can also be exhausting. These approaches look at care, dependence and who gets to decide, while keeping the disabled person’s own choices at the centre.

About these groups. The approaches below are grouped into five families to make them easier to find. The groups are a reading aid, not a claim that the theories are separate: many overlap and borrow from each other. A therapy is a way of doing therapy. A framework is a set of principles or a theory used across many therapies.

Relationship, attachment and meaning

These approaches explore how relationships, past and present, shape how we experience ourselves and others, and what our experiences mean.

Therapy
Humanistic Psychotherapy
Can I be accepted without having to become more independent, positive or productive?
Also: Person-Centred Therapy
Therapy
Psychodynamic Therapy
What does this experience mean, and what from the past is alive now?
Therapy
Object Relations
What does receiving care mean in this particular relationship? Grew out of psychodynamic thinking.
Framework
Attachment, Care and Autonomy
Can needing assistance coexist with security and agency?
Therapy
Jungian Psychotherapy
What symbolic meaning might this hold, if the person wants to explore it?

Thoughts, emotions, values and action

These approaches work with how thoughts, feelings, the body and actions affect each other, often with practical tools and a clear structure.

Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Is this prediction inaccurate, realistic, or partly both?
Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
What can I make room for, what can change, and what deserves resistance?
Therapy
Compassion-Focused Therapy
Whose standards are shaping my self-criticism?

Body, embodiment and safety

These approaches pay attention to the body, sensation and feeling safe, with consent and choice at the centre.

Therapy
Body Psychotherapy
What does embodiment mean for this person’s actual body?
Also: Biodynamic Psychotherapy
Framework
Trauma-Informed Therapy
What happens when threat or invasive care is ongoing? A set of principles, not a single trauma treatment.

Stories, relationships and systems

These approaches look beyond the individual, at the stories people are given and the relationships and systems around them.

Therapy
Narrative Therapy
Who authored the story that I am a burden, failure or inspiration?
Therapy
Systemic and Family Therapy
Who carries the work of care, and who gets to decide?

Collaborative and integrative practice

This approach chooses goals and methods together with the client, rather than starting from one theory.

Therapy
Pluralistic Psychotherapy
What does this person want, and which approach fits now?
Also: Disability-Informed Pluralism

All approaches A–Z

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)Thoughts, values & action
Attachment, Care and AutonomyRelationship & meaning
Biodynamic PsychotherapyBody & safety
Body PsychotherapyBody & safety
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)Thoughts, values & action
Compassion-Focused TherapyThoughts, values & action
Disability-Informed PluralismCollaborative practice
Humanistic PsychotherapyRelationship & meaning
Jungian PsychotherapyRelationship & meaning
Narrative TherapyStories & systems
Object RelationsRelationship & meaning
Person-Centred TherapyRelationship & meaning
Pluralistic PsychotherapyCollaborative practice
Psychodynamic TherapyRelationship & meaning
Systemic and Family TherapyStories & systems
Trauma-Informed TherapyBody & safety

Not sure which fits? Compare them side by side, or start with What Is Psychotherapy?

How to cite this page: Donaghey, C. (2026). Therapy Approaches. Disability in Psychotherapy. Available at: https://disabilityinpsychotherapy.online/therapy-approaches/ (Accessed: [date]).

Shared under CC BY-NC 4.0, with an extra permission to teach from it on fee-paying courses. Credit the site. See Reusing This Material.

Every approach,in one place.