Holistic therapy Project

INTRODUCTION

Holistic psychotherapy is an individualized, integrative approach to therapy that combines ideas and techniques from different therapeutic schools of thought depending on the unique needs of a given client. As such, it is sometimes seen more as a movement within the practice of psychotherapy than a form of therapy in and of itself. In practice, by merging elements of different psychological theories or modifying standard treatments, integrative therapists can often offer a more flexible and inclusive approach to treatment than those who practice singular forms of psychotherapy.
Holistic psychotherapy and integrative therapy and interchangeably used because it aspires to consider an individual’s mental, physical, and emotional health in a unified way. Ideally, therapist and client will work together to understand the sources of the latter’s anxiety, unhappiness, physical discomfort, or unhealthy behavior patterns.
People who seek to have a voice in the direction of their therapy, and who view the therapeutic relationship as a partnership, may be especially receptive to an integrative approach

Summary of the Project

IDEA OF ILLNESS

The idea of illness and cure was associated with various cultural and religious meanings. The religious leaders and clergymen assumed crucial roles in alleviating illness and pronouncing cure. There were myths and beliefs about the nature of illness and in many ways it added to the development of illness and the cure of it. There was a basic understanding that unequal distribution of energy could be the cause for the illness. It’s interesting to note how persons like Mesmer viewed etiology of illness. It could be that there is a connection between what happens in our mind-body systems and cosmos. Health and wellbeing depends upon man’s inherent relationship to the environment and if there is imbalance in that connection and lack of effort to repair the imbalance can possibly lead to breakdown

FORMULATION OF HOLISTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

Holistic psychotherapy approaches can be incorporated into almost any type of long-term or short-term therapeutic work with children, adolescents, and adults, whether one-on-one, with couples, with families, or in group settings. An integrative approach can be used to treat a range of psychological concerns, including depression, anxiety, personality disorders, grief, low self-esteem, self-harm, trauma and PTSD, relationship issues, sleep concerns, sexual challenges, substance use disorders, and eating disorders

An integrative therapist aims to match evidence-based treatments with each client’s particular concern or concerns, and so the first step is to discover and understand the individual’s personality traits, preferences,needs, spiritual beliefs, openness, and motivation level. These factors, along with the client’s health and age, will help the therapist use their professional judgment to decide on a treatment approach with the highest likelihood of success.
A strong therapeutic alliance is core to the success of integrative or holistic therapy. It flows from the formation of the trusting relationship. Holistic therapy sessions tend to be more inclusive of the client than those of many traditional forms of talk therapy, in which the client may play a less active role in deciding the form or course of treatment. Once therapy is underway, different approaches may be used at different stages, or a single, integrated form of therapy may be used throughout

There are more than 400 types of psychotherapy, differentiated by their approach, the clients they best serve, and how long and how often the therapist and client will meet. Research shows that even as these approaches vary, many or all can result in similar, and similarly successful, outcomes. But because a single approach to therapy does not always deliver the best benefit to the client, therapists who may have been trained in one particular model will often use tools, language, techniques, or exercises borrowed from other therapies to come up with a distinct, and hopefully effective, form of treatment suitable for a particular client. A Holistic psychotherapy practitioner will regularly evaluate a client’s progress with whatever modality is currently being tried, and be ready to pivot to a different approach when it becomes clear that they are not benefiting, or no longer benefiting, from it. Typically, though, such shifts are discussed by client and provider before being put into action.
Therapist may introduce strategies and techniques from cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, EMDR, motivational interviewing, mindfulness, art or music therapy, psychodynamic therapy, humanistic therapy, psychodrama, meditation, breathwork, yoga, family systems therapy, gestalt therapy, or trauma-informed therapy. How they go about it is likely to differ from practice to practice: A provider may initially follow one primary approach but introduce elements of other techniques as the therapeutic relationship progresses or when predetermined targets or goals have been met. For example, on realizing that a client struggles with social anxiety, a therapist who takes a humanistic approach to a client’s long-term goals and concerns may share techniques from CBT that specifically target the individual’s situational anxiety.

There are fundamental differences and similarities between spiritual and psychoanalytical work. At the outset, it should be noted that spiritual care is based on the confession of faith and psychoanalysis is based on the medical model. Traditionally, spiritual care-givers are expected to play a direct role in solving the problems of the people based on the faith tradition of their congregation and in line with the dogmatic approach of the biblical concepts, whereas in psychotherapy, the patient along with the therapist through therapy engages in searching the meaning of any lived past and current experience in joint venture. Personal experiences thought process and emotional experiences of the patients/ clients accorded significance by all means in the context of caregiver’s relationship with the other.
Jungian analyst involves with the tradition and any form of faith and images which patient brings into therapy. Both Psychoanalysis and spiritual care aims to facilitate healing process. The challenge is to learn to develop resources and culturally relevant approaches to bring about the relationship.
Carl Jung is recognized as one of the most influential psychiatrists of all time. He founded analytical psychology and was among the first experts in his field to explore the religious nature behind human psychology. He argued that empirical evidence was not the only way to arrive at psychological or scientific truths and that the soul plays a key role in the psyche. Key contributions of Jung include:

The collective unconscious: A universal cultural repository of archetypes and human experiences
Dream analysis and the interpretation of symbols from the collective unconscious that show up in dreams.
Extroversion and introversion: Jung was the first to identify these two personality traits, and some of his work continues to be used in the theory of personality and in personality testing
Psychological complexes: A cluster of behaviors, memories, and emotions grouped around a common theme. For example, a child who was deprived of food might grow into an adult smoker, nail biter, and compulsive eater, focusing on the theme of oral satiation
An emphasis on spirituality: Jung argued that spirituality and a sense of the connectedness of life could play a profound role in emotional health.
Individuation: The integration and balancing of dual aspects of personality to achieve psychic wholeness, such as thinking and feeling, introversion and extroversion, or the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. Jung argued that people who have individuated are happier, more ethical, and more responsible
The persona and the shadow: The persona is the public version of the self that serves as a mask for the ego, and the shadow is a set of infantile, suppressed behaviors and attitudes.
Synchronicity: A phenomenon that occurs when two seemingly unrelated events occur close to one another, and the person experiencing the events interprets this correlation as meaningful

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF HOLISTIC THERAPY

In terms of providing health care, the use of the term “holistic” dates back to the time of Hippocrates, over 2,500 years ago. Believing it was insufficient to focus on one aspect of a person, Hippocrates emphasized the importance of establishing equilibrium within individuals, viewing the person as a whole being made up of many parts working in concert with one another.
In the 20th century, health care became more medically focused as the care of certain symptoms was reduced to one form of intervention. Issues with the mind were typically treated with talk therapy and symptoms in the body were addressed with drugs and surgeries. The mind and body were consistently viewed as separate entities.
It was not until the 1970s that people in medical and other health care fields began to feel treating only one or a few symptoms generally only served to manage certain issues and did not always succeed in helping people improve their overall quality of life. The first national conference on holistic health, held in 1975, began a movement for alternative forms of care both in the field of medicine and among therapists.
Established in tenets of acceptance and relaxation, holistic therapy draws from multiple forms of therapy, such as:

THEORY AND METHODS OF HOLISTIC THERAPY

Holistic therapy theory holds that a person’s consciousness is not housed in any one part of the person but is instead an integration of the mind, body, and spirit. Practitioners of holistic psychotherapy, who believe viewing each person as a whole being is an essential first step in providing care, typically collaborate with those in therapy to help them gain awareness of the connections between their emotions, thoughts, physical experiences, and spiritual understandings. Therapists can help individuals realize each of these components work together in harmony to support typical daily function. This deeper understanding of the whole self can often lend itself to greater self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-acceptance.
Holistic therapy does not work to eliminate symptoms. Instead, this therapy method views symptoms as one way a person’s consciousness can bring attention to a person’s higher awareness. In order to develop awareness through holistic therapy, practitioners work less to help individuals achieve change and more to help them accept the present moment—who they are and where they are. Therapists offer support as people in therapy work to accept what is going on within. Once this acceptance is achieved, individuals may be able to let go of their own resistance, which can further allow them to relax and release any fears. Acceptance and relaxation are important components of this therapy.
Additionally, there is a growing body of research that supports the practice of self-compassion and mindfulness in psychotherapy. Neuroscience research reveals individuals that practice these techniques are happier, more resilient, and better equipped to heal painful memories from the past. It is my honor and mission to help my clients move past what’s blocking them from reaching their full potential individually and in their relationships.
Many successful treatment plans will utilize a foundation of cognitive/cognitive-behavioral, compassion focus therapy, EMDR, existential/humanistic, integrative, Jungian, multicultural, psychodynamic therapy then quickly move toward a tailored treatment plan and approach that includes tools to help sustain the growth experienced in regular therapy.