Personal Theory Paper An Integrative Approach

I chose an integrative approach because I believe that no single psychotherapeutic approach can be effective and appropriate for all clients and problems. I believe that each individual needs to be considered as a whole and counseling techniques must be fitted to their needs.  I like how an integrative approach uses different theories but also share similarities that can be explored and understood, because all theories have value and benefits. To me taking an integrative approach into account leads clients to the solution of one’s needs and personalities. Integrating behavioral, Adlerian and person-centered theories, making behavior therapy, as my main focus might be effective to many clients in my opinion. This form of therapy has different underlying therapies within. My main focus of behavior therapy is Cognitive Behavioral therapy.

CBT understands the structure of the mind and how the mind works by the core concepts of beliefs, intentions, and desires. And these concepts are used to understand why someone acts, behaves, and think in a certain way. The therapy is based on the presumption or concept that one’s thoughts, feelings, physical actions, and sensations are interlinked. Similarly, to correct behavior like smoking, the therapist must explore how the mind works and examine what might lead an individual to smoke despite warnings of its effects. The client might be motivated by unsuitable thinking patterns, unhelpful environment as well as the staying close to circumstances that exposes them to systematic threats of preventing them from viewing the reality of their behavior.

In CBT, therapists often have to find out reasons why the client performs the specific behavior after which they make hypotheses concerning the possible factors that can be instrumental in controlling the behavior. Therefore, interventions would be based on the information obtained from the functional analysis. Moreover, in CBT positive reinforcement inspires people to do good in the future. Additionally, when addressing situations of anxiety, the therapist would implore the use of relaxation throughout the process of the therapy. Moreover, anxiety hierarchy is essential in enabling the therapist to acquire quality information concerning the events that compelled the client to develop anxiety. In most cases, numerous hierarchies that signify various suspicions are created. Once the client has described the events, which are important in eliciting anxiety, they are to list them down in order ranging from the less serious to the most complex situations that lead to anxiety (Sharf, 2016, pg.

The hierarchy is often organized through the assignment of numbers ranging from 0 to 100 to the specific events. The therapist would then proceed to allow the client imagine a neutral situation and then choose events from both the problem as well as the discord hierarchy. The SUD numbers vary with the client and the nature of the situation or event. In the case of Paul, he was able to relax while imagining diverse events from the hierarchies as well as in the particular situations (Sharf, 2016, pg. Essentially, Paul was able to sit his examination after four months and passed without experiencing anxiety. One of the methods in behavior therapy is the concept of self-management. The client would repeat the self-guidelines to himself several times and use either its variations or original content on Arnold.

With children being the most affected by cognitive problems, self-instructional training would be inclusive of recorded guidelines that are appropriate to help the client listen and practice in order to correct the behavior. Additionally, CBT can be used with other therapies including the Adlerian therapy. Adlerian therapy can be described as the transitory, psycho-educational technique that explores both the humanistic and goal oriented approaches. The therapy focuses on the clients’ desire or struggles to success, connectivity with other people as well as inputs to the society as being significant elements of mental health (Sharf, 2016, pg. Besides, the third aspect is presenting comments from the client, which is essential since it has relations with the therapy’s goals. The fourth process is reorientation that assumes the examinations and understandings of the works that come from both the client and the therapist.

Reorientation is essential as it helps clients generate alternative behaviors to the previously ineffective conducts and beliefs. The processes involved in Adlerian therapy is consistent with the examination of the client’s state of mind, which relates to the behaviors that lead them to various problems. Treatment of the Adlerian is mainly dependent on the variations between the psychotherapy and counseling. From the simple processes/stages of both the CBT and Adlerian therapies, I would start addressing a client’s problem by creating a collaborative environment and supportive relation with the client. Building relationship will ensure that I explore the client’s lifestyle and understand how the beliefs and presumptions of the client affect their interpretations of significant events. Essentially, if the client had anxiety problems in handling examinations, I would use the situations to examine the client’s perception of the exam room or the examination.