-“My type of therapy is the best.” -“No my theories are better.” “-You’re both wrong, my perspective is the best….” The mental health field has definitely been accused of being “campy”. Theorists have proposed many theories and therapies over the years. And clinicians can hold fast to their theoretical perspectives. Sometimes they may even criticize other perspectives they do not identify with. But has anyone tried to put them together to make an integrative therapy?
Luckily, there have been efforts in the past few decades to integrate many of these theoretical perspectives. This integrative approach (not to be confused with “eclectic” approaches) draws on major research supported theories from both “nature” and “nurture”. It uses those theories to create integrated models of how individuals develop and maintain mental health difficulties.
For example, genetic propensity can interact with learning history to contribute to the development of biochemical imbalances, negative thought patterns, and tendency toward behavioral avoidance to spur social anxiety.
This effort sounds kinda nice, right? Well, they’ve put it all together into one integrative therapy that research has shown to be highly effective! This “Unified Protocol” seeks to treat common factors that give rise to mental health difficulties overall, but is also flexible enough to work with specific difficulties. And therapists can train in it! There is a great training by the founders of the treatment themselves.
The approach utilizes multiple effective treatment strategies. It uses cognitive strategies to promote flexible thinking and mindfulness approaches. Clients also learn more adaptive emotion regulation by using physical/emotional exposure exercises. It also helps clients learn adaptive behaviors in the face of difficult emotional and social contexts.
Pros: The Unified Protocol is highly research based while emphasizing empathy for client experiences and context. It is based on multiple research-based theories and well-tested itself. This training itself provides an opportunity to learn a new cutting edge treatment “straight from the horse’s mouth”. The training also appears pretty in-depth, so it provides very comprehensive learning to help build your skills.
Limits: The only limit appears to be that this training is a live training, so it does require scheduling it in at multiple specific times (the training company has not listed whether they will release it as an on-demand training).
Many clinicians may find it refreshing to see an effort by leaders of the field to incorporate multiple theories to create an effective integrative therapy. It’s a good opportunity for those interested in learning a new mode of therapy.
