You may see some therapists (including me!) call themselves integrative. As with a lot of therapy terms, it might not mean a lot to you unless you have done quite a bit of research into the different types of therapy and therapeutic modalities (eg. psychodynamic, CBT, gestalt, DBT, somatic, EMDR, the list goes on).
Each modality is a slightly different framework that your therapist will use to look at the issues that you are bringing to therapy. For example, a psychodynamic therapist may want to focus more on your childhood and look at how patterns that emerged there are repeating in your life today, whilst a somatic therapist will want to stay more in the present and really focus on sensations and feelings that are happening in your body whilst you are in the therapy room.
Some therapists only work with one modality, but many will have training in multiple different modalities. They will then combine these approaches and pull from different areas depending on the specific needs of each client. In practice, this can mean that in one session you might be doing something like the following:
challenging core beliefs (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
exploring relationships and patterns from childhood (Psychodynamic Therapy)
understanding different parts of yourself, for example an inner critic or an inner child (Internal Family Systems)
noting how you feel in your body when talking about any of the above (Somatic Therapy)
It is very common nowadays for most therapists to either call themselves integrative or pluralistic (another term for using multiple therapeutic modalities) as ‘there is a growing agreement among psychotherapists and researchers that no single psychotherapeutic approach can be effective and appropriate for all patients, problems, and contexts.’ (Zarbo et al, 2021). Overall, this is a net positive as it means that more people who access therapy are receiving personalised care that is tailored to their individual needs. However, as more and more people call themselves integrative therapists, it is increasingly important for people when seeking out a therapist to make sure they have an understanding of which modalities a therapist uses most often and to ask about what that might look like in session. You can often get an understanding of this from an intro call, which most therapists will offer for free (including me - you can book in for an intro call here).
Sources:
BACP - ‘What is Integrative Counselling’
Science Direct - ‘Integrative Therapy’
Zarbo, C., Tasca, G. A., Cattafi, F., & Compare, A. (2016). Integrative Psychotherapy Works. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 2021.
