Dublin Counsellor Blog

March 25

Integrative Psychotherapy Dublin

Integrative Psychotherapy Dublin: When a psychotherapist describes themselves as ‘integrative’, what do they mean?

Integrative psychotherapy means a number of therapeutic models have been integrated into their individual practice. There are many therapeutic models and therapists often choose a therapy training that they are drawn to. This will form the basis of how they work.

Further training allows therapists to draw from more source therapeutic models. A process of comparing and contrasting different models allows for a fresh perspective on all models and a deeper understanding of the whole that is a therapeutic understanding. This process for a therapist can take years, often decades.

Some therapists are drawn to the Freudian or Jungian analysis model. Others prefer a humanistic or ‘person-centred’ model. Integrating them, however, is where a wisdom arises as learning for a therapist can be taken from all of them.

My Integrative Approach

As an integrative psychotherapist myself, I blend three models of working. I use the Freud and Jung models for an understanding of relationship dynamics and the unspoken hanging in the air between two people.

This can be understood in terms of Freud’s concept of transference, where the client sees the therapist as an authority figure from the past and they act accordingly. The learning for the client is understanding how and why they act as they do and to explore new ways of relating that benefit them.

I also integrate gestalt therapy with body psychotherapy. The body contains the human understanding of life as blueprints, or what Jung called ‘archetypes’. As a species we are always pressing toward completion and resolution so we become a ‘meaningful whole’, the meaning of Gestalt.

Often in life we are unresolved and blocked from completion. Clients often report feeling ‘stuck’ in their lives. I help them untangle the blocked and unresolved, allowing for movement. The client gains confidence from this, motivating them into further resolution work.