Humanistic & Integrative Psychotherapy

Founding itself upon love, humility, and faith…dialogue is an encounter among women and men who name the world.

If I do not love the world – if I do not love life – if I do not love people – I cannot enter into dialogue (Paulo Freire).

Humanistic psychotherapy is a term used to describe a number of different models of therapy such as Transactional Analysis, Gestalt, Person Centred, Body Psychotherapy, Psychosynthesis, Psychodrama and many more. At its core is the understanding that the struggles and suffering we experience in life are universal and part of our shared humanity. In this way the therapist and client work collaboratively in a relational way to help the client understand and face the existential challenges that life continually presents us with. However, it is emphasised that it is the client who has agency and choice over their life. Personal responsibility and the ability to change are the key philosophical elements in humanistic psychotherapy, even if the wider external factors are taken into account.

An explicit idea involved in integrative psychotherapy is that it is pluralistic and curious by nature. The therapist may be trained in a certain model but that model itself would have been integrative and would have involved learning about other models of therapy. This is a pragmatic type of therapy and an integrative psychotherapist endeavours to continually broaden his/her knowledge base about other models of therapy and other fields such as the arts, literature, philosophy and other related areas. Integrative therapists then use this continuous quest for knowledge and self-development to assist in their work with clients.

For further information see:

www.ukcp.org.uk
www.psychotherapy.org.uk/findatherapist