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Home » American mental healthcare

Integrative Therapies: Are They Good Psychotherapy Options?

January 25, 2021 by Dr. Paul Greene

Integrative therapies are an intuitively appealing approach. Learn about what they are and whether they make sense for you.

integrative therapies CBT

What Is Integrative Therapy?

The term “integrative” or “integrated” therapy is used in two ways.

  1. A type of psychotherapy that draws on multiple theoretical orientations.
  2. Treatment for a physical ailment that integrates the whole person into the healthcare plan. These treatments balance considerations of the body, the mind, and spirituality.

In this article, you will learn about the first meaning — psychotherapy that draws from multiple schools of psychological thought.

What Are Theoretical Orientations in Psychotherapy?

A theoretical orientation is a system of understanding the problems that bring people to therapy. It also provides a basis for understanding what makes therapy effective. Here are some examples:

A gestalt therapist helps clients focus on present-moment thoughts and feelings in an effort to achieve insight about relationships and other life patterns.

A cognitive-behavioral therapist thinks in terms of actions, thoughts, sensations, and emotions that interact to create psychological problems.

A psychodynamic therapist understands psychological problems in terms of subconscious drives and other factors. They use therapy to help clients gain insight into these issues, which help address the problem.

A mindfulness-based therapist uses practices derived from meditation. These practices help clients improve anxiety, to relate with emotions in a healthier way, and sometimes to enhance spiritual wellbeing.

A humanistic therapist relies on efforts to improve clients’ self-worth by helping them develop an unconditional positive stance toward themselves. It is less focused on mental health diagnoses than are other forms of therapy. Humanistic therapy sees people as inherently capable and worthwhile, and it aims to help them to see themselves that way too.

A dialectical behavior (DBT) therapist helps clients overcome issues related to regulating one’s emotions. This therapy is based on behavioral theory as well as on skill sets derived from both cognitive-behavioral therapy and Zen Buddhism.

Integrating Different Types of Therapy

If you think you might benefit from psychotherapy that draws on more than one of the above, integrative therapy might be for you.

There are valuable aspects to each of the above-listed types of therapy. Some therapists believe that subscribing to just one perspective is limiting. They find that drawing from two or more traditions makes sense for the work they are trying to do.

Other therapists find that one theoretical orientation is sufficient for providing good care. They may believe that mixing and matching schools of thought is akin to mixing orange juice with Coke; each of them are fine choices on their own, but combining them doesn’t make sense.

Are Integrative Therapies Better Choices Than Other Therapy?

There is no definitive answer to this question. Research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy typically focuses on therapy adherent to a specific theoretical orientation — not on integrative therapies. As a result, unfortunately, there is no clear scientific answer to this question.

At our practice, we do cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). We will sometimes use elements of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which might be considered integrative. However, DBT is a form of CBT. So combining them is less of a true integrative therapy than it might appear at first glance. These two therapies are very compatible with one another. In fact, one might say their approach is similar, they just tend to focus on different problems.

Concluding Advice

It can be difficult to determine which type of therapy is the best fit for you or for the problem you’re trying to address. (See also: our helpful guide to how to find the right therapist for you.) My advice is this: whatever option you choose, pay attention to whether the problem that brought you to therapy is getting better or not. After several sessions, if you don’t see improvement or a path to improvement, consider trying something different.


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Filed Under: American mental healthcare, Cognitive-behavioral therapy, Evidence-based treatment Tagged With: dbt, finding a therapist, psychotherapy

6 Important Reasons Why People Don’t Get Mental Health Treatment

May 13, 2020 by Dr. Paul Greene

The Scope of the Problem

Barriers to mental health treatment abound in the United States. The nature of these barriers is varied. Some involve people seeking but unable to obtain services. Others involve a failure to seek services. In combination, these obstacles result in a large proportion of those in need of mental healthcare not getting it.

For example, a 2008 study examined mental health problems in a large sample of military members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The study found that only around half of those veterans with depression and PTSD sought help for these problems. Unfortunately, the corresponding statistics for non-veterans are no better. Why is that?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: American mental healthcare, Depression, PTSD Tagged With: psychotherapy

Be an Informed Consumer!

October 30, 2012 by Dr. Paul Greene

Much attention has been cast on the relationships between clinical medicine and the pharmaceutical industries. How much has the pharmaceutical industry been influencing the treatment of depression and anxiety?  The rate of use of prescription medication in the United States is higher than in other industrialized nations.  The use of prescription antidepressant medication has drastically increased in the past 20 years. 

In fact, a 2007 study by the CDC found that in the United States, antidepressants were prescribed more often than medications for high blood pressure or high cholesterol! It is likely that the effects of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing, such as television and radio commercials, have played an important role in the increased use of many patented antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications.  These medications have been very profitable for pharmaceutical companies. In recent years, television commercials even advertise serious antipsychotic medication – even for use with depression – despite the fact that many in the field consider these drugs to be overused and to cause problematic side effects.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: American mental healthcare, Depression, Evidence-based treatment Tagged With: antidepressants, anxiety, depression

Science-Based Therapy: Is There Such A Thing?

November 8, 2009 by Dr. Paul Greene

science and psychotherapy

Most people closely associate medicine and science, but how many of us think of science and psychotherapy as being related? Maybe we don’t, but we should. The best therapy is science-based.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: American mental healthcare, Evidence-based treatment Tagged With: antidepressants, therapy

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    Affiliated Therapist Writings

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      • Why You Have Intense Emotions, and How to Cope
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      • How to Be Awesome at Self-Soothing and Self-Care
      • Accepting Things As They Are: Why and How to Do It
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      • Mindfulness of Emotions: How Can It Help You?
      • How to Survive Holiday Stress
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      • What Is Panic Disorder With and Without Agoraphobia?
      • How to Deal With the Torment of Relationship Obsessions
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      • Coronavirus: Tips for Parents During Social Distancing
      • “Will I Get Sick Too?” — Talking to Your Children and Teens about Coronavirus
    • Melissa Aiello, Ph.D.
      • Why Do I Hate My Job?
      • How to Overcome the Vicious Cycle of Depression and Avoidance
    • Dr. Paul Greene
      • Is PTSD Permanent? It Doesn’t Have To Be
      • Integrative Therapies: Are They Good Psychotherapy Options?

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