Integration Techniques From Five Counseling Theories

Eclectic therapists attempt to draw from and combine different techniques to work with the diversified needs of their clients.The article "Integrating Techniques From Five Counseling Theories" by Zander Ponzo discusses integrating five counseling theories into one eclectic approach. The main goals of integrative therapy are to help clients improve functioning and gain a feeling of "wholeness."

Rational Emotive Therapy

• This psychotherapeutic approach proposes that unrealistic and irrational beliefs are the cause of many emotional problems. Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), as developed by Albert Ellis, is a treatment that focuses on changing the thinking of the client in order to change behavior. A therapist will assist the client in changing their irrational thinking patterns into more rational thoughts by teaching the client to dispute their own rational beliefs, using the techniques of reframing, problem solving, role playing, modeling, and humor.

Transactional Analysis (TA)

• This form of therapy attempts to integrate psychology, psychotherapy, humanistic, and cognitive approaches. It was created by Eric Berne in 1950 and aims to describe how humans are structured by analyzing their internal systems (parent, adult, child) and their organization. The main premise of TA states that a person's life script is created during their childhood and that people recreate (both good and bad) childhood experiences over and over again.

Client-Centered Therapy

• In 1940, Carl Rogers created a nondirective approach to psychotherapy called client-centered therapy. A therapist will relay back to a client what they have expressed and the client is than able to identify what changes they would like to make. This is called self-discovery, and therapists aim to teach clients how to identify problematic actions and behaviors and make needed changes. A therapist will always use empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard for their clients.

Gestalt Therapy

• Gestalt therapy, founded by Laura and Fritz Perls in the 1940s, is based on the idea that a person's contact with others is interrupted through a variety of negative behaviors. Connecting and loving others cannot be fully achieved until a person recognizes the barriers that they put up. A therapist assists a client in evaluating their communicative abilities, how they act, how they speak, words they choose, body language they emit, and how these actions may or may not be barriers to interpersonal interaction. Being mindful of one's barriers is the first step to working through personal and interpersonal issues.

Behavior Therapy

• This therapy focuses on changing and eliminating unwanted behaviors and is commonly used to treat clients with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), fears and phobias, or addictions. Behavior therapy was popularized in the early 20th century by psychologist John Watson. Behavior therapists analyze a client's behaviors that cause stress and have a negative impact on their life or impede their functioning. Once the therapist has discovered these behaviors, the therapist chooses treatments which may include: desensitization, environmental modification, relaxation training, modeling, and retraining.

Integrated Pyschotherapy

• Therapists who practice integrated psycotherapy believe that every client has inherent worth, and that every client is on a different cognitive, behavioral, and physiological level of functioning. Due to client differences, it is best to integrate components of different psychotherapies to create a unique approach which takes this diversity into account.