What is an Integrative Psychologist?

You must have heard several concepts linked to psychology, such as psychoanalysis, perhaps behaviorism, among others. Psychology is the science that studies the cognitive, emotional, behavioral and relational processes of the human being, and psychotherapy is a therapeutic act that uses psychology in the treatment of people's problems. There are several psychotherapeutic schools or approaches:

- Cognitive-behavioral: through observation and detailed analysis of thoughts and behaviors, it is understood how they affect their feelings and reactions;

- Interpersonal: you learn new ways of communicating and expressing yourself, helping to build and maintain healthy relationships;

- Psychodynamics: access and analyze how past experiences, particularly in childhood, impact the way adults feel and react;

- Humanistic: the unconditional acceptance of the client is emphasized, promoting their authentic development;

- Existential: focused on concepts such as self-determination and free will, and promoting individual responsibility in building their own world;

- Experiential: focused on the customer's “here and now” experience, in order to create a meaningful personal narrative;

- Approaches focused on the multiplicity of the self: the human being is seen as having different parts, and that conflicts derive from the lack of integration between them.

Naturally, the approaches are not limited to this simplistic elaboration, and there are common points between them. But the idea remains that each one has a different perspective on the human being and the influence of his emotions, beliefs, behaviors, anguish or needs in his life.

I feel that being guided by just one makes my performance incomplete, as I can see strengths in all of them. What research in integrative psychotherapy aims at is to find the common factors between each approach, so that the lines that separate each one are blurred. Today, after training, practice and constant study, I use an organized method, in which I link the different approaches I mentioned, in a flexible paradigm, which is sensitive to the conceptualization of the case and the emerging needs of my client.