In this short article I want to give my professional view on the integrative approach, and also tell you why I choose it. So, what is it? I think most colleagues know that a feature of the approach is the combination and combination of tools from various therapeutic approaches - this is obvious even from the name. Why this is needed and why it is important for me, as a psychologist, to work in an integrative approach, I will try to describe below. I’ll start with the fact that I am a member of the Association of Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy, and, accordingly, I work in CBT. And here a lot could be written about how effective and good this modality is, how much research and evidence there is in favor of the fact that CBT really works. But I won’t write this here – that’s not what the article is about. I think many colleagues will agree with me - yes, it works, yes, it is effective, yes, this is the most evidence-based way to solve certain requests. Naturally, I also had personal psychotherapy experience in CBT, and this therapy helped me quite significantly. But I also had experience in Gestalt psychotherapy for four years. Half of this time I didn’t even understand why I was going there. That was then, but now, of course, I understand, see and realize what I took from it. Thus, I tested on myself for a long time how two different approaches work. Then there was a lot of things: classical psychoanalysis, transactional analysis, hypnotherapy. As I wrote above, I work in CBT, and most of my clients initially come with a request that can be solved with its help. I won’t hide the fact that most of the requests I work with are anxiety. But as I increased my practice, I was faced with the fact that CBT, just imagine, doesn’t work! It doesn’t work where something is very acute, where there is trauma, unlived states, unfinished relationships. It is useless to relieve anxiety with CBT when the client has a stream of tears or is completely frozen. And in such cases, deep methods of psychotherapy come to my aid. What I want to share here is not a panacea, it is my own way of bringing the client to that certain level where CBT will finally work and prove its effectiveness once again. For myself, in the practice of consulting, I choose to first complete the unfinished, remove the acute, live and close. Sometimes, depending on the priority of the request, based on the client’s state and processes, I also use CBT in parallel. Thus, knowledge and ability to apply certain techniques of different approaches, depending on the situation, are, in my opinion, the most effective way of working. After all, the mental construct is multi-layered, has an incredibly complex structure, different levels, and I just don’t know how to achieve the most effective result in therapy. Do you use an integrative approach? I would be glad if my article turned out to be something useful and interesting to you, and I would also be happy to learn about your experience and opinion. Sign up for consultations through the website or by phone +7 905 921 83 63.