Understanding Integrative Therapy: What is it? And When Is It Used?
Have you gone to therapy but felt the experience was hit-or-miss? Did you perhaps find that therapy only addressed a specific issue? Seeking integrative therapy can actually help you avoid this problem and address the big picture. That will ensure that your whole self is getting the help you really need. The first step is to educate yourself.
What is Integrative Therapy?
Integrative therapy utilizes a combination of techniques to treat patients. This is as opposed to sticking to one particular treatment modality. Therefore, by participating in integrative therapy, you will have a more comprehensive therapeutic experience. The underlying idea is to create a treatment that will be relevant to each individual patient. A therapist experienced with this technique does this is by examining the physiology, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors of a person. Consider how integrative therapy addresses and incorporates each one of these four areas in the overall treatment.
1. With Your Physiology
Human physiology involves how the body functions. This includes:
- Physical systems, such as the heart, lungs, and stomach
- Mechanical systems, including the bones and muscles
- Biochemical systems, such as those found in the brain
When you are experiencing a psychological problem, your physiology is also impacted. For example, if you have anxiety, your muscles will be tense and your stomach may ache. You may also experience an elevated breathing and heart rate. This stress, in turn, affects the biochemical function in your brain. Integrative therapy creates more awareness for how your whole body responds. This is especially important when looking at the big picture.
2. With Your Thoughts
Another perspective of integrative therapy is how you view yourself and how the world impacts your psychological well-being. If you have negative-reinforcing thoughts, they can affect how you make decisions. Over time negative thoughts can also damage your mental health, such as from depression. This kind of thinking is greatly influenced by your personal experiences. It may include events you have lived through, but also how others have treated you. Therefore, it is important to understand these thoughts and their impact.
3. With Your Emotions
You, just like other humans, are an emotional being. Your emotions have an impact on how you make decisions, perceive yourself, and your environment. For example, you may struggle with shame about not being able to meet others’ expectations. This, in turn, creates anxiety. Anxiety, then, causes you to feel stressed, which has a negative effect on your body. Are you beginning to see how all of these factors connect together?
4. With Your Behaviors
Finally, integrative therapy is useful for understanding your behaviors. This is important because your behaviors will appear disconnected from what is bothering you. For example, let’s say that you struggle with anger and lashing out. You end up getting into an argument with your boss at work. The result is that your behavior causes you to be terminated from your job. Integrative therapy can help you better understand that you argue because you are afraid. You are afraid of criticism and actually being rejected. This fear causes you to be tense all the time. You are always waiting to put up your defenses at a moment’s notice.
When Should You Seek Integrative Therapy?
If you already went to therapy and it didn’t work, there is probably a reason. The therapist you were seeing may have only addressed one part of the problem. As you can see, integrative therapy does not simply concern itself with one issue. It is a much more holistic process that examines how each part affects the other. This allows both you and your therapist to get to the root of the problem and see the bigger picture. That way you can make better decisions that create the changes you want and need. If you want to know more about this specific therapeutic approach, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I have years of experience working with the integrative therapy method.
Questions, Concerns, Thoughts?
I invite you to call me for a free 15 – minute phone consultation to discuss your specific needs and to answer any questions you have about anxiety, treatment and my practice. Please visit my website @www.theanxietydocseattle.com or call me directly @ (206) 745-4933. Read more about Anxiety Treatment.