The integration is based on the understanding that in the end, all therapeutic techniques require a client to be able to accept and implement a change, not just at a conscious but also at an unconscious level. And that the client needs to be in a highly receptive state for them to naturally be able to accept this change and act upon it without any internal conflict or resistance. To help you understand this, let us look at an example: Let’s say a client visits you for a session because they want to quit smoking. The fact that the client comes for the sessions, out of their own free will, shows that consciously they are willing and receptive. Yet when it comes to quitting, the client tells you that they are just not able to. It is almost like something inside them compels them to smoke. They experience an internal conflict, an unconscious resistance resulting from an automatic urge that they are not able to control consciously. Given that the urge is generated automatically, in our understanding the source of this is unconscious. This means that when we are working with clients, while consciously they are willing and receptive, the key hindrance to change is actually at the level of unconscious. So for change to be effective and sustainable, it needs to be accepted at not just the conscious but also at the level of unconscious. And if you really think of it, all approaches to psychotherapy attempt to do this.  In behavioural psychology, for example, the process of repetition along with the reward and punishment cycle is being used to condition a new behaviour or emotion. The fact that we are talking about conditioned behaviours and emotions, we are talking about behaviours and emotions that are being triggered unconsciously, automatically. Even when we talk about cognitive approaches, we are talking about restructuring our thoughts which are generally automatic and thus, repetition is required to make the new thought as automatic, hopefully, as the old one. Psychoanalysis, talks about suppressed emotion and repressed memories which may be a part of the unconscious. This clearly shows that all of these approaches are looking at creating a change at both the conscious and the unconscious level. They may be using different strategies or techniques to do that, but the end objective is the same. And while I am using these 3 approaches as an example, if you were to think of it, all approaches to therapy for creating a sustainable change, need to be able to influence both the conscious and the unconscious. Once we understand this, we realize that receptivity on the part of the client is required at both conscious and unconscious level. The more receptive the client is, at both these levels, the higher are the chances of success in resolving the problem, not just in the short run but also in the long run. This higher degree of receptivity in clients is also known as hyper-suggestibility. Helping clients get into a hyper-suggestible state and using an integration of these approaches with the understanding that all of them are trying to achieve the same objective, is the basis of a truly eclectic approach to therapy. In short, the state of hyper-suggestibility can act as a thread to integrate each of these approaches and any other approach that can help clients create a change.