The world of psychotherapy can represent a highly splintered profession. There are hundreds of different models of psychotherapeutic practices, all claiming to represent the truth when seeking to apply solutions to the great human sufferings. Perhaps it is due to genetics, as people tend to want to outdo each other in competitive rivalries and that might explain the professional splits that occur. Just take the historical split between Freud and Jung, for example, in quests to be the top dog of the emerging profession of psychoanalysis.
But there are often mini splits within splintered modalities. Within the transpersonal approach, there are a number of different views within a supposedly coherent school. Whats more, even within a subset of transpersonal, (such as psychosynthesis, for instance) there are further granular differences with opposing institutes claiming a particular truth within that approach.
It is probably little wonder that potential clients become confused when seeking help and when faced by a plethora of different type of practitioners, all claiming to be offering something unique and exclusive. Clients rarely know the difference between different approaches (why should they?), let alone know about the differences between the more substantive different disciplines such as clinical psychology and psychiatry.
Sometimes I wonder whether we, as practitioners, could better help clients by acknowledging the similarities of each approach rather than accentuating the differences. That is why I am drawn to the integrative approach since I believe that all approaches have potentially something to offer when assessing how to help someone in distress. I view consciousness as representing a spectrum and, therefore, it is perhaps necessary to be equipped with a broad range of theoretical knowledge in addition to a diverse set of tools and techniques to best help clients. This approach embraces mind, body and spirit in addition to keeping abreast of informed developments in such relevant fields as neuroscience, nutrition, sleep medicine and the benefits of physical exercise.
How one engages with clients, however, might be heavily informed by one’s own relational style and comfort zone. Someone who is inclined to think a lot might be attracted to a cognitive way of working whilst someone who is more in touch with their own feelings might be drawn to an embodied way of working embracing somatic energies in the therapy. Either way I believe it is important to be aware of one’s personal biases and to be alert to possible blind spots that could potentially pop up in the consulting room. As a client myself I don’t like to feel subjected to standardised or formulaic treatment from a therapist.
Understanding internal states are not the prime driver for bringing about change in therapy
Whilst some modalities might focus on internal states I believe that a truly integrative and holistic approach is essential to fully understand why a person might be struggling in life. Internal states are, of course, vitally important and that is why one’s early object relations, early attachments and relationship conflict issues are a vital part of understanding current distress. That would, after all, be addressing the mind part of the holy trinity of mind,body and spirit.
To be really integrative and holistic I believe it is important to be addressing an individual’s nutrition, sleep, level of exercise in addition to emotional and psychological needs. To be comprehensively healthy it is important that all aspects of being are being addressed. Distress occurs when our basic nutritional needs are not being met, both emotional and physical needs, or when we have lost the capacity to control the direction of our lives (what we might term stress). It follows, therefore, that all aspects of an individual’s life need to be assessed when seeking to relieve the distressing symptoms that can present in counselling and psychotherapy consulting rooms.
Contextual issues are important in seeking to understand unconscious material in therapy
The importance of contextual issues are extremely important in seeking to understand unconscious material in therapy. A person’s upbringing and socialisation are important when themes of power, oppression and class, for instance, can be assessed to better understand how they operate in the world. It can also be beneficial to adopt such an integral approach when dealing with issues relating to sexuality, race, social class, religious affiliation, national identity (especially with Brexit), gender and any other contextual issue that might be impacting an individual. Awareness of these contextual themes can be very useful in informing practical work with clients in taking a truly holistic view of the work, not just heart, mind and body but also potentially socioeconomic, cultural, political and genetic influences.
I like what Ken Wilber refers to in his AQAL view of psycho-spiritual development. Wilber, borrowing heavily from the truths of Buddhism, outlined a basic framework of Integral Theory; his use of a grid to categorise the perspectives of various theories and scholars is useful in applying not just psychological theory to understand a person’s interior but also sociological and political theory to understand a person’s external world.
Counselling and psychotherapy can offer a private and confidential space to help bring about greater awareness of and the impact of lifestyle choices. For the therapy to be successful it is important to be able to speak in a free and frank manner and to fearlessly address any self-limiting belief systems. Such negative reinforcing systems can often be the way the psyche protects itself against troublesome unconscious material. Such material might be manifesting in the form of defence mechanisms and learning to understand one’s own triggers to negative thinking can help to bring about personal transformation. Greater self knowledge and owning one’s own projections can lead to a freer and happier life as well as more harmonious relations with others.
Noel Bell can be contacted on 07852407140 or by email noel@noelbell.net
