The Mental Health Workshop series picked up steam as 18 attentive students packed the Don Bautista Room for the third workshop, Learn About Therapy, on Tuesday February 28.

Psychology professor Phil Boissiere was in an upbeat mood as he both entertained and informed students on different types of psychological therapy.

Cognitive therapy’s main goal is to “make people aware of what they are thinking,” said Boissiere.

Thoughts lead to behaviors and conditions. Even though a habit is automatic, it is still some form of thought.

“We’re constantly thinking,” explained Boissiere. “The problem is, sometimes our thoughts don’t serve us well.”

Cognitive therapy is about changing what we are thinking. “Shift the to the positive, self-serving thoughts,” Boissiere said.

One student suggested the strategy of simply removing negative thoughts from your mind.

Boissiere agreed this tactic might work, though he warns that, “important thoughts cannot be pushed out of the way.”

Psychodynamic therapy is based on the notion that behaviors can be explained through our early childhood experiences and unconscious thought.

“Dreams are a very important way to gain access to the unconscious,” said Boissiere.

He had students participate in an exercise of free association, a technique in which a therapist says a word and the patient responds with the first word that comes to their mind.

“Winter,” said the student acting as therapist.

“Snow,” responded the student acting as patient.

“Rain,” said the therapist.

“Umbrella,” the patient responded.

Boissiere explained that if this exercise were to continue, eventually the patient “may say things without even thinking.”

Family therapy deals with the fact that families are a huge influence on people.

“A family helps shape our experiences with the world,” said Boissiere.

“It’s a system,” explained Boissiere. “We have to look at the parts of the system (people) and balance it out. Everyone has to have their role for it to work right.”

The Mental Health Workshops continue to expand this quarter with their upcoming “Learn about Anxiety” workshop March 13.

 For more information on the event, please visit www.cognitivetherapysf.com/traininglectures