Integrative Therapy Types and Benefits

Therapies for mental health offer just as many benefits. Knowing yourself better is possible with help. Your mental health problems can be identified with the help of these therapies. Different emotions are taught, as well as how to cope with them. Is it more likely for you to engage in therapy if it is tailored to your individual personality, spiritual beliefs, and overall well-being? Then integrative therapy may be right for you. Well-being and mental health are at the core of psychotherapy. By combining different methods, an integrative approach addresses the individual needs of a client. All methods and mental health services aim to resolve psychological distress and its causes, regardless of what method you’ve used.

There are many therapeutic methods used in psychology and mental health counseling. However, not everyone’s needs are the same, so there are multiple psychotherapy frameworks. It is possible for a therapist to specialize in one or two specific methods. Another option is to tailor services to the client’s specific needs by combining interventions from different approaches. 

What is Integrative therapy?

Integrated psychotherapy combines approaches from different therapeutic styles, ensuring that each client’s treatment is tailored to match their unique circumstances. Consequently, it is more of a movement within psychotherapy rather than an independent therapy. Several schools of thought exist within psychology, each with a different approach to therapy. Multiple approaches allow therapists to help clients overcome increasingly complex and multidimensional mental health challenges.

Integrative therapists combine different types of therapy to create unique treatment regimens. It’s more flexible and inclusive than traditional, singular approaches. All therapeutic approaches aim to help people navigate struggles and overcome obstacles better. An intensive treatment plan in a defined therapeutic practice is typically delivered in a short timeframe, so an integrative approach can help people navigate challenges without relying too heavily on one method.

Types of Integrative therapy:

Therapists who practice integrative therapy can draw on several different therapeutic approaches. Therapy effectiveness depends on the individual and their circumstances. Integrative mental health services incorporate more than 400 types of therapy. Some of these therapies include:

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): An integrative approach often uses cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which is often referred to as the “gold standard” of psychotherapy. According to CBT, negative thinking contributes to psychological problems. The goal is to change how people think.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: In acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), negative thoughts, feelings, symptoms, or circumstances are dealt with by focusing on acceptance. It encourages you to engage in healthy, constructive activities that reflect your values or goals. Psychologists who practice ACT suggest that increasing acceptance can allow one to become more flexible psychologically.

Internal Family Systems: Internal Family Systems are evidence-based psychotherapy practices that help people heal by addressing and healing their wounded inner parts. Through IFS, people have the opportunity to access their Self first and then come to understand and heal their parts from within.

Brainspotting: Through Brainspotting, core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, and dissociation are identified, processed, and released. In Brainspotting, traumatic feelings can become stuck in the body, causing physical and mental problems. It is believed that brainspotting “resets” memories of particular traumas or incidents in the brain.

Solution Focused Therapy: An evidence-based approach to treatment, solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) helps clients change rather than focus on problems by incorporating positive psychology elements. SFBT is different from other forms of psychotherapy because it looks at present circumstances and future hopes rather than past problems and causes.

Motivational Interviewing: In motivational interviewing, the goal is to motivate individuals to change their behavior in a positive manner. People who have mixed feelings about changing their behavior benefit most from this client-centered approach.

How can integrative therapy help you?

Mental health plays a significant role in your overall health, affecting your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It influences how you make decisions, respond to stress, and have relationships. Your therapist may use integrative therapy to help you achieve wholeness if your mental health is not optimal. Depending on the methods used, integrative therapy has specific applications. Integrative therapy may treat anxiety, whereas other mental and emotional disorders may be treated by integrative therapy methods. 

The following conditions have been shown to be treated successfully with integrative therapy approaches:

• Depression, including postpartum depression
• Social anxiety
• Generalized anxiety
• Personality disorders
• Dissociative identity disorder 
• Career stress
• Relationship conflicts

Techniques Used in Integrative Therapy:

An integrative approach combines different approaches and applies them differently. The use of different therapies can be adapted and modified to address a variety of problems. Some of the techniques you might encounter during integrative therapy include:

• Behavioral Strategies
• Psychodynamic Strategies
• Dream Analysis
• Cognitive Strategies
• Interpersonal Inventories

Benefits of Integrative Therapy:

• Intensive and outcome-focused
• Flexible and exploratory in nature
• Recognize the causes of your life’s challenges.
• Find out what triggers your unhelpful behaviors.
• Integrate your mind, body, emotions, social skills, and spirituality in order to overcome the limitations you’ve placed on yourself.
• Provides a number of therapeutic tools and strategies to the client
• Suitable for individuals, couples, families, and groups at all stages of life

Final Verdict:

Therapies for mental health come in many forms. You will work on changing the thoughts and feelings that contribute to negative behavior during sessions with a therapist. Finding a mental health professional who is qualified to offer integrative therapy is the first step. Integrative therapy is commonly used by therapists. Clinical psychologists often use integrative therapy in order to tailor the service to your needs, making it an extremely effective approach. Clients and therapists need to collaborate and trust in order for therapy to be successful.

To help their clients, integrative therapists use a variety of therapies rather than a “one-size-fits-all” approach. In addition to being able to open up to an integrative therapist, a positive therapeutic relationship is important.