Integrative Psychotherapy involves the fusion of different schools of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is a set of techniques intended to improve mental health, emotional or behavioral issues of individuals, family members or a whole familys interactional climate. ...

Initially, Sigmund Freud developed a talking cure called psychoanalysis; then he wrote about his therapy and popularized psychoanalysis. After Freud, many different disciplines splintered off. Some of the more common therapies include: psychoanalytic psychotherapy, counselling, co-counselling, analysis, transactional analysis, cognitive behavioural therapy, gestalt therapy, body psychotherapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, family systems therapy, person centred counselling, and existential therapy. Over two hundred different acknowledged theories of psychotherapy are practiced. Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud (IPA: []) (May 6, 1856–September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Psychotherapy is a set of techniques believed to cure or to help solve behavioral and other psychological problems in humans. ... Transactional analysis, commonly known as TA to its adherents, is a psychoanalytic theory of psychology developed by psychiatrist Eric Berne during the late 1950s. ... Cognitive therapy or cognitive behavior therapy is a kind of psychotherapy used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, and other forms of psychological disorder. ... Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy, built on the experiential ideal of Here and How (rather than the Rogersian Here and Now), and relationships with others and the world. ...

A new therapy is born in several stages. After being trained in an existing school of psychotherapy, the therapist begins to practice. Then, after follow up training in other schools, the therapist may combine the different theories as a basis of a new practice. Then, some practitioners write about their new approach and label this approach with a new name. This overall pattern has been observed in numerous new therapies and is certain to form many future therapies.

A pragmatic or a theoretical approach can be taken when fusing schools of psychotherapy. Pragmatic practitioners blend a few strands of theory from a few schools as well as various techniques; such practitioners are sometimes called eclectic psychotherapists and are primarily concerned with what works. Alternatively, other therapists consider themselves to be more theoretically grounded as they blend their theories; they are called integrated psychotherapists and are not only concerned with what works, but why it works. Pragmatism is a collection of many different ways of thinking. ... Eclecticism is an approach to thought that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions or conclusions, but instead draws upon multiple theories to gain complementary insights into phenomena, or applies only certain theories in particular cases. ...

For example an eclectic therapist might experience a change in their client after administering a particular technique and be satisfied with a positive result. In contrast, an integrative therapist is curious about the “why and how” of the change as well. A theoretical emphasis is important; for example, the client may only have been trying to please the therapist and was adapting to the therapist rather than becoming more fully empowered in themselves.

Related Issues

IBP Integrative Body Psychotherapy IBP Integrative Body Psychotherapy was developped by [Jack Lee Rosenberg], Ph. ...

External links

• The Problem of Psychotherapy Integration by Tullio Carere
• The rise of integrative psychotherapy by John Söderlund
• Integrative Theory of Psychotherapy and other Human Sciences (Documents No. 8 and 9 in English)