Theoretical Orientations
Theoretical orientations
Theories inform our practice as therapists. I have included the main approaches that I have received training in and that most influence my work and ongoing study.
Article on how therapy is transformative. may be useful.
Somatic Transformation.
This is an approach that focuses on the release of traumatic energy in the body. We draw on research from neurobiology and psychology in our understanding of how trauma and developmental trauma is responded to and held within the body and mind. Clinical processes involve somatic empathy, somatic inquiry (exploring how and what we know ), somatic interventions (creating shifts in body-mind states) and somatic reflection (focusing on lived experience to discern meaning).
For more information visit somatic-transformation.org
Psychodynamic
A number of theorists come under the heading of Psychodynamic. In particular I have been influenced by the writings and teachings of Donald Winnicot, R.D. Laing, Michael Eigen, Anthony Storr, and John Bowlby . In essence Psychodynamic approaches emphasis the effect of early childhood and the interpersonal relations with significant others on our development of self. Another important aspect of this approach is the identification of defenses that we use to protect ourselves from anxiety and shame.
Attention to the ways in which these processes arise in the present within the therapeutic relationship is a core aspect to the work. Increasing self awareness is seen as an important change process. The therapeutic relationship is important in facilitating awareness through the transference and countertransference between client and therapist. Through empathic attunement the therapist and client create a therapeutic relationship where defenses that interfere with connection to self and others are gradually transformed.
A Psychodynamic approach integrates well with a Somatic Transformation perspective, as both see early childhood experiences as crucial to the patterns and responses to stress over ones life. A focus on the body helps to integrate the emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of oneself.
Intergrative Psychotherapy
Integrative Psychotherapy takes into account many views of human functioning:
- psychodynamic, client-centered, behaviorist, cognitive, family therapy, Gestalt therapy, body-psychotherapies, object relations theories, psychoanalytic self psychology, and transactional analysis approaches. Each provides a partial explanation of behavior and is integrated with other aspects of the therapist's approach.
Psychotherapy interventions used in Integrative Psychotherapy are based on:
- developmental research and theories.
- self-protective defenses.
- skills of attunement, and inquiry.
- relationship between client and therapist is of utmost importance.
It is recognized that integration is a process to which therapists need to commit themselves. Thus, there is a focus on the personal integration of therapists. In addition to the personal growth of the therapist, there is a commitment to the pursuit of knowledge in psychotherapy and related fields. There is a particular ethical obligation on integrative psychotherapists to dialogue with colleagues of diverse orientations and to remain informed of developments in the field.
Gestalt
I was first trained as a Gestalt psychotherapist. Gestalt psychotherapy highlights self- awareness, personal responsibility, and genuine contact. Unfinished business refers to those things that linger unexpressed in our present experience. These are feelings such as resentment, rage, pain, shame and abandonment that are linked to past situations. Attention to experience in the present moment is an important focus of therapy.
Unfinished business interferes with a person's present experience in a number of ways, such as, over-thinking, projecting their experience on to others, operating from shoulds, merging with other people's experience, and turning against themselves. These interruptions get in the way of genuine connection with others, and are the kind of personal processes that lead us to feeling alienated.
We experience the world mainly through our senses, but people use analyzing, intellectualizing, and justifying to understand their experience. Gestalt encourages an integration of emotional and cognitive functions. With greater awareness a person has greater choice and responsibility over their lives.