Most psychologists begin their practice by following theories and techniques from one school of psychotherapy. Some therapists only practice Psychoanalysis while others practice cognitive therapy and some others may practice behavioural therapy to name a few.
Each school has its own advantages and its own limitations. Over a period of time, the psychotherapist starts understanding these limitations and hence starts looking at ways to incorporate theories and techniques from other schools into their current practice.
When a psychologist integrates theories and techniques from two or more schools of psychotherapy, they are said to practice Eclectic Psychotherapy.
The biggest challenge that most psychologists and counsellors face when trying to integrate the different schools of psychotherapy is that at times the theories and presuppositions of each school may come across as very different from other schools.
In the absence of a model that can act as a thread between these apparently different theories, most of the so-called eclectic psychotherapists are only able to combine parts of these different schools of psychotherapies.
This is where hypnosis can play an extremely important role. Once you start understanding what hypnosis really is, it can literally act as a thread that can help integrate these different schools of psychotherapies into a comprehensive eclectic approach.
Our Cognitive Hypnotic Psychotherapy course is an extremely good example of how all the major approaches to psychotherapies can be integrated into a comprehensive approach to psychotherapy.
If you want to explore in detail how this integration works and read case studies on the same, check out the What is Cognitive Hypnotic Psychotherapy post.