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Villa Behavioral Health’s therapy programs use several evidence-based approaches, matched to each person’s condition rather than applied uniformly. The main therapies are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, trauma-focused therapy, and somatic therapy, delivered by licensed clinicians through individual and group sessions across Villa’s mental health programs.
The right therapy depends on the condition being treated, because different approaches target different problems. Depression driven by distorted thinking responds to a different method than trauma stored in the body or emotions that spiral out of control. Matching the therapy to the problem is what separates effective treatment from generic talk sessions, and it is why understanding the main approaches is worth doing before starting care.
The therapies below are the ones with the strongest evidence base for the conditions Villa treats. Most treatment plans combine more than one, since a person dealing with, for example, both trauma and anxiety benefits from approaches that address each. What follows is what each therapy is and who it helps.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy treats mental health conditions by changing the thought patterns that drive symptoms. CBT is built on the idea that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are linked, so identifying and reshaping distorted thinking changes how a person feels and acts. It is structured, practical, and among the most extensively researched therapies in mental health care.
CBT is the foundation for treating depression and anxiety. In sessions, you learn to notice the automatic thoughts fueling low mood or worry, test them against reality, and build more accurate and useful responses. Because the skills are concrete and practiced between sessions, progress tends to carry into daily life rather than staying in the therapy room.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy builds the skills to manage intense emotions and the behaviors that come with them. DBT grew out of CBT and adds a strong focus on emotion regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness. It was developed for people whose emotions run high and hard to control, and it works well for mood instability and self-destructive patterns.
DBT is the right approach when the core problem is emotional intensity rather than distorted thinking alone. You learn concrete techniques for riding out acute distress without making it worse, regulating strong emotions, and handling relationships under stress. These skills are practiced deliberately and applied to the situations that usually trigger a crisis.
The difference between CBT and DBT is what they target: CBT focuses on changing unhelpful thoughts, while DBT focuses on managing intense emotions and building coping skills. DBT is a specialized form that developed out of CBT, so they share a foundation, but they suit different problems. The table below compares them.
CBT | DBT | |
|---|---|---|
Full name | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy | Dialectical Behavior Therapy |
Main focus | Changing unhelpful thought patterns that drive symptoms | Building skills to regulate intense emotions and tolerate distress |
Best for | Depression, anxiety, and conditions driven by distorted thinking | Intense mood swings, self-destructive urges, and emotional dysregulation |
How it works | Identifies and reframes the thoughts behind feelings and behaviors | Teaches mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal skills |
Relationship | The foundational cognitive approach | A specialized form developed from CBT for high emotional intensity |
Many people benefit from both. Someone with depression and emotional dysregulation might use CBT to address the thinking behind the depression and DBT skills to manage the emotional swings. Villa’s clinicians match and combine the two based on what each person is dealing with, rather than defaulting to one.
Trauma-focused therapy treats the specific ways that trauma and PTSD affect the mind and body, rather than treating trauma as ordinary stress. Trauma changes how the brain processes memory and threat, which is why general talk therapy alone often is not enough. Trauma-focused approaches are designed to process traumatic experiences safely and reduce their grip on the present.
Villa Behavioral Health uses trauma-focused CBT for clients with a trauma history or PTSD, introduced after initial stabilization so the work does not overwhelm before the groundwork is in place. Trauma treatment is paced deliberately, because moving too fast can retraumatize, and it is coordinated with the rest of a person’s care so gains in one area support the others.
Somatic therapy addresses how mental health conditions, particularly trauma and anxiety, are held in the body rather than only in thoughts. It works with physical sensation, tension, and the nervous system’s stress responses, on the understanding that some distress is stored bodily and does not fully resolve through talk alone. Somatic work complements cognitive approaches by reaching what thinking-focused therapy can miss. Mental health treatment is increasingly recognized as a holistic process that requires a combination of both somatic and cognitive techniques. Through this integration, individuals can achieve a deeper understanding of their experiences and develop more effective coping strategies.
These therapies are delivered through individual and group sessions across Villa’s programs, from the partial hospitalization program down through intensive outpatient and outpatient care. The intensity of the program sets how many hours of therapy you receive each week, while the specific approaches are chosen for your condition.
Individual sessions provide focused, one-to-one work, while group sessions add skill practice and peer support. For clients whose care involves the whole household, family therapy is available alongside individual work, and for those managing a mental health condition together with substance use, therapy is integrated into the dual diagnosis program. Psychiatric medication management is coordinated with therapy where it is part of the plan.
Villa Behavioral Health works with most major insurance carriers on an out-of-network basis, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, Florida Blue, TRICARE, Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Ambetter, Beacon, Anthem, Medical Mutual, and HealthPartners. We are not in-network with these carriers, and we do not accept Medicare, Medicaid, or HMO plans.
Therapy delivered as part of a treatment program is generally covered the way that program is, and out-of-network benefits on a PPO plan often pay a share. Our admissions team quickly confirms your specific benefits and reviews out-of-pocket cost with you before any commitment. For plans without usable out-of-network benefits, we discuss self-pay options directly.
CBT focuses on changing the unhelpful thought patterns that drive symptoms, while DBT focuses on managing intense emotions and building coping skills. DBT developed out of CBT, so they share a foundation, but CBT suits conditions driven by distorted thinking and DBT suits emotional dysregulation.
Villa uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, trauma-focused therapy, and somatic therapy, along with psychiatric medication management where appropriate. Most treatment plans combine more than one approach based on the person’s condition.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the most established approach for depression and anxiety, because it targets the distorted thinking that drives these conditions. It is often combined with other approaches depending on what else a person is dealing with.
Trauma-focused therapy, including trauma-focused CBT and somatic approaches, is used for trauma and PTSD. These are designed to process traumatic experiences safely and are paced carefully so the work does not overwhelm before stabilization is in place.
Somatic therapy addresses how trauma and anxiety are held in the body rather than only in thoughts, working with physical sensation and the nervous system’s stress responses. It complements cognitive approaches by reaching distress that talk therapy alone can miss.
Villa offers both. Individual sessions provide focused one-to-one work, while group sessions add skill practice and peer support, and most treatment plans include a mix of the two.
When therapy is part of a treatment program, it is generally covered the way that program is. Villa works with major carriers on an out-of-network basis and confirms your specific benefits before care begins.
Villa provides therapy for adults across South Florida within reach of our Delray Beach facility, as part of its mental health programs. Contact our admissions team and they will explain how therapy fits your situation and confirm your coverage.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Courtney Scott, MD, Medical Director, Villa Behavioral Health. Dr. Scott earned his Doctor of Medicine from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and leads the psychiatric medical team overseeing care at Villa.
The right therapy depends on what you are dealing with, and our clinicians match the approach to your needs. Call (833) 302-2533 or verify your insurance online to learn which therapies fit your situation.