Gratitude therapy

If the past year was all about mindfulness, now the latest psychotherapy craze to gather momentum is gratitude therapy. By encouraging people to feel grateful for what they already have – rather than always wanting something more and better – proponents of this approach say gratitude therapy will help individuals feel better about their lives and less anxious generally. Gratitude therapy is unusual because you can try it on your own, without enlisting a therapist to guide you.

Yet is this something new or simply more of the same with a different label?

✽✽✽✽✽ The idea of using “talking therapy” to overcome emotional disorders was introduced by Sigmund Freud in 1886, when he began offering a technique he called psychoanalysis. Freud believed that all psychological disorders are rooted in early childhood traumas and the best way to uncover these is to ask patients to relax and recount whatever comes into their minds. He believed they would then “transfer” feelings about people in their past on to the therapist and work through the issues.

Psychoanalysis was the predominant mind cure until the 1950s, when the attention turned to how we learn and behave. The resulting method, called behaviour therapy, was then based on the idea that all behaviour is learnt and that, therefore, it can be “unlearnt” or overlaid with newer, more adaptive ways of behaving.

Soon, however, it became obvious that behaviour change alone wasn’t enough. Many patients remained distressed. Psychologists then turned their attention to our thought patterns and began applying the techniques of behaviour therapy to change attitudes and beliefs. This new therapy came to be known as cognitive behaviour therapy, or CBT. Since the introduction of CBT in the late 1960s, other methods have been created, such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), compassion-focused therapy (CFT) and now gratitude therapy.

They are all based on CBT principles, but some borrow ideas from psychoanalysis as well. Each one targets a particular type of psychological disorder, or emphasises particular emotions. Yet do they actually represent anything new?

I think not. All the newer therapies are based on the idea that the way we think and behave strongly determines how we feel, although each therapy has its own specific target. For example, CFT aims to eliminate shame and self-criticism; ACT encourages the acceptance of painful feelings and aspects of our lives we can’t control; and gratitude therapy stresses satisfaction with the status quo.

In my opinion, none of them offers anything radically different. They simply emphasise different aspects of good psychological health. After all, isn’t it a good idea for everyone to cultivate attributes such as gratitude, compassion and mindfulness, whether they are undergoing therapy or not? If you wish to undergo psychotherapy, learn about the types on offer so you can decide which one appeals most. In the long run, however, you’ll have the greatest chance of benefiting from the therapy if you choose a therapist you can trust and work well with.

Mindfulness is over and the new therapy buzzword is gratitude – being thankful for what we have. Yet is this really a new breakthrough or just a rehash of old ideas? Linda Blair unpicks the psychobabble. “Gratitude therapy stresses satisfaction with the status quo.”