Integrative approach

An integrative approach refers to the consolidation of elements of the multiple schools of psychology to create a tailored therapeutic experience for individuals. It aims to look at each individual and their situation as unique, and to select the most relevant practices from psychology to achieve optimal results. It allows for constant adaptation of techniques to respond to new situations that may arise throughout therapy.

Developmental psychology investigates the changes that individuals experience as they age and mature through different stages in life. It looks at how and why humans develop certain characteristics and aptitudes. Fundamental questionings of this field include the nurture versus nature and the continuity versus discontinuity debates.

You may recognize the names Freud, Erikson, and Piaget from their studies of developmental stages of human psychosocial and cognitive development. 

Behavioural psychology, or behaviourism, refers to the study of how individuals behave. Behaviourists focus on observable behaviour and hold the belief that our environment shapes our actions and reactions. 

Common concepts of behavioural psychology are conditioning – learning through association, or reward and punishment. With behavioural psychology we can untrain undesired behaviours or train desired ones. 

You may recognize the names Pavlov, Skinner, Thorndike and Hull for their research and theories in the field of behavioural psychology.

Cognitive psychology refers to the study of how individuals think. It explores things such as our thought processes, our use of language, our memory and our perception.

Cognitive psychologists aim to investigate internal processes and how the brain works, which helps us to understand and overcome learning difficulties or short attention spans. 

You may recognize the names Miller, Beck, and Vygotsky for their grand strides and founding implications in the field of cognitive psychology.

Sociocultural psychology  studies how society and culture influence other individuals’ behaviour and development. This approach looks at how an individual’s social, physical and cultural environment is involved in behaviour; more importantly how social norms, morals, beliefs, language and origin can have an effect on how an individual perceives or reacts to certain situations.

Simply put, a person who was born and raised in a small rural town in a highly conservative community will not display the same behaviours as one brought up in a liberal household in a big busy capital city. Therefore, it is important to consider the sociocultural environment of an individual in order to provide the accurate treatment and support. 

You may recognize the names Vygotsky and Piaget who were the frontrunners of this approach.

Psychodynamic psychology, also referred to as psychodynamics is the study of the dynamic play between the conscious and the unconscious. 

The core idea of the psychodynamic approach is that the individual’s conscious and unconscious processes come together to create a personality. These processes include motives, wishes, drives, emotions, systems and needs. 

You may recognize the name Sigmund Freud; his psychoanalytical approach was the first of the psychodynamic kind.