Integrative psychotherapy is based on the integration of contemporary psychoanalytic psychotherapy (object relations, personality psychology, intersubjective approach), transactional analysis, gestalt therapy, client-centered therapy, and other, especially developmental, neurological and psychologically-based theories and neurosciences. Integrative psychotherapy involves integrating various psychotherapeutic approaches. Each of these approaches allows for a partial interpretation of behavior and is considered a valuable hypothesis of human action.
Integrative psychotherapy primarily encompasses a certain attitude towards psychotherapeutic practice that affirms the importance of a holistic approach to each individual. Therefore, the main focus is the integration of the emotional, spiritual, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological aspects of personality.
The goal of integrative psychotherapy is to maximize a person’s quality of life and functioning in the intrapsychic, interpersonal, and sociopolitical space, while respecting their own personal and external limitations within the context of each individual.
Within this framework, it is essential that integration is a process that therapists must also commit to. Therefore, the education process focuses on the personal integration of the student, the future therapist, and a commitment to the pursuit of knowledge in the field of psychotherapy and related areas. EAIP defines “Integrative” as any methodology and integrative orientation in psychotherapy that illustrates or develops toward a conceptually coherent, principled, theoretical, scientific combination of two or more specific approaches and/or represents a model of integration in itself. In this regard, there is a special ethical obligation for integrative psychotherapists to engage in dialogue with colleagues of different orientations and to stay informed about developments in the scientific and professional field.
The central principle of integrative psychotherapy is that no single form of therapy is the best or even adequate in all situations. Therefore, integrative psychotherapy promotes flexibility in approaching problems but also commits to maintaining the highest standards of psychotherapeutic practice, research, supervision, and education.
So, when integrative therapists rely on different strategies, techniques, research, and theoretical concepts, it doesn’t mean they are guided by the principle of eclecticism, but by a fundamental understanding of the holistic principle of integrative psychotherapy and responsible action.
Integrative psychotherapy, while affirming the importance of knowledge and the application of various approaches or combinations of approaches, gives the highest priority to the therapeutic relationship as the core of deep psychotherapeutic modalities.
In the therapeutic relationship, special emphasis is placed on maintaining an attitude of respect, safety, kindness, honesty, and equality towards the client’s personality in a way that affirms their integrity, without excluding the therapist’s own personality and integrity. Integrative psychotherapy affirms the importance of creating a psychologically safe space and emotional attunement between the therapist and the client.
It is only in such a co-created intersubjective space, which the client and therapist have built together, that the process of healing and growth can begin.
Integrative psychotherapy is based on the literature of integrative psychotherapy and relational psychotherapy (Erskine 1997, 2015; Erskine and Moursand, 1988; Evans and Gilbert, 2005; Greenberg, 2015; Greenberg and Paivio, 2003; Safran and Muran, 2000; Stolorow. Atwood and Brandschaft, 1994, and other authors). The philosophy of integrative psychotherapy is in accordance with the philosophy of the International Integrative Psychotherapy Association (IIPA) and the European Association for Integrative Psychotherapy (EAIP).
Integrative Psychotherapy
Integrative psychotherapy encompasses, above all, a special approach to psychotherapeutic practice that affirms the importance of a unifying approach to individuals. Therefore, the main focus is on an appropriate and effective response to the person on emotional, spiritual, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological levels.
The goal is to facilitate integration so that the quality of a person’s being and functioning in the intrapsychic, interpersonal, and socio-political space is maximized, with due respect to each individual’s personal and external limitations. Within this framework, it is recognized that integration is a process to which therapists must also commit. Therefore, the focus is on the personal integration of the therapist. However, it is recognized that while the focus on personal growth for the therapist is essential, there must also be a commitment to the pursuit of knowledge in the field of psychotherapy and related areas. Thus, EAIP defines as “integrative” any methodology and integrative orientation in psychotherapy that exemplifies or develops toward a conceptually coherent, principled, theoretical combination of two or more specific approaches, and/or represents a model of integration in itself. In this sense, there is a special ethical obligation for integrative psychotherapists to engage in dialogue with colleagues of different orientations and to stay informed about developments in the field.
The central principle of integrative psychotherapy is that no single form of therapy is the best or even adequate in all situations. Therefore, integrative psychotherapy promotes flexibility in its approach to problems, but also commits to maintaining standards of excellence in client services, supervision, and training. Thus, when integrative therapists rely on different strategies, techniques, and theoretical constructs when dealing with specific situations, it is not done randomly, but in a manner grounded in both clinical intuition and sound knowledge and understanding of the problems at hand and the interventions to be applied.
Ultimately, Integrative Psychotherapy, while affirming the importance of foregrounding certain approaches or combinations of approaches in relation to specific problems, still gives the highest priority to those factors that are common to all psychotherapies, especially the therapeutic relationship in all its modalities. However, with regard to the therapeutic relationship, special emphasis is placed on maintaining an attitude of respect, kindness, honesty, and equality towards the client’s personality in a way that affirms the integrity and humanity of both oneself and the other.
Integrative psychotherapy affirms the importance of providing an environment where growth and healing can take place in an intersubjective space co-created by both the client and the therapist.