The A-Z of Therapy Jargon: Part Two (I-Q)

This post is a continuation of my A-Z of therapy jargon part one, where we looked at letters of A to H. Please enjoy part 2 - dive with me into therapy jargon, letters I to Q!

Integrative Therapy: This approach creates personalized treatment plans by drawing on elements from various therapy schools. Therapists trained in integrative therapy can incorporate techniques from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, mindfulness, and more, depending on the client's specific needs and preferences. Integrative therapy offers flexibility and aims to maximize the effectiveness of treatment.

Jungian Therapy: Developed by Carl Jung, a pioneer in psychology, Jungian therapy explores the unconscious mind and its influence on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Therapists delve into concepts like archetypes (universal symbols and patterns), the shadow (unconscious aspects of ourselves), and the process of individuation (striving for wholeness). Through dream analysis, active imagination (exploring inner imagery), and exploration of mythology and symbolism, Jungian therapy helps clients achieve personal growth and a deeper understanding of themselves. For those interested in learning more about Jung, check out Jung: Key Ideas by Ruth Snowdon (#Ad)

Kleinian Therapy: Developed by Melanie Klein, a controversial yet influential figure in psychoanalysis, Kleinian therapy focuses on the early stages of emotional development in the unconscious mind. Unlike traditional Freudian psychoanalysis, Klein believed infants experience complex emotions like love, hate, and anxiety very early on. Therapists explore these primitive emotions and defence mechanisms like splitting (seeing things as all good or all bad) and projective identification (projecting unwanted feelings onto others) to help clients understand their present behaviour and relationships. Play therapy is often used to access the unconscious world of both children and adults. Kleinian treatment can be intensive and is not as widely practised as other approaches, but it offers a unique lens for understanding deep-seated emotional patterns.

Life Script: This concept refers to a set of unconscious beliefs about ourselves and the world, formed in early life, that can influence our behaviour. Therapy can help rewrite limiting life scripts.

Mindfulness: Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to the present moment without judgment. It is a core skill used in many therapy approaches to manage stress and increase self-awareness.

Negative Automatic Thoughts (NATs): These are automatic, critical thoughts that may not be based on reality and contribute to emotional distress. Therapy helps clients identify and challenge NATs to develop more balanced thinking patterns.

Object Relations: Object relations theory is a psychodynamic approach that focuses on our early relationships with caregivers and how they shape our personality development. Therapists explore how we internalize these relationships, forming mental representations of significant people in our lives, which can influence our current interactions and attachments. Understanding these internalized objects can help us build healthier relationships in the present.

Positive Psychology: This approach focuses on building strengths and fostering well-being rather than solely addressing problems. Therapists may incorporate positive psychology techniques to help clients cultivate strengths and build resilience.

Quality of Life: Therapy can address a variety of challenges that impact quality of life, including anxiety, depression, relationship issues, and trauma.

I hope this post has helped shed some light on some of the more obtrusive language often used when discussing counselling and psychotherapy. I will endeavour to complete the third and final part of this series soon!

Reviving my blog: School of life

So whilst recognising that it is now mid-February and I am over a month late for making resolutions (read: it’s never too late); I am making one - to pay some attention to this tired and underloved blog, having let it lie fallow for the past year or so. I’m not a natural writer so this is not my comfort space, but I’m going to try and share in an interesting way the things I’m finding interesting, books, videos, events and the like. The wild and rambling musings of a psychotherapist in London is my aim, for anyone that may find that interesting; warts, type-os and all.

I’m going to start by sharing one of my favourite YouTube channels: The School of Life by Alain de Botton. I find that it is often rare to find informative, helpful, engaging and beautiful content on the subjects of psychology and psychotherapy. Too often they are stuffy, overly complex, even elitist in their feel and delivery; weighed down by endless technical terms and abbreviations that even the most scholarly would need to cross-reference.

Where other’s fail, the School of Life succeded in providing digestible and thoughtful content on subjects such as art, philosophy, psychology and psychotherapy. I often recommend them to the clients I work with as ways to further explore and understand the concepts and ideas we are exploring in the counselling room together. I hope you may find them as helpful as I have over the years, I’ve included a taster down below (if it works properly!) on their introduction and explainer of how and why psychotherapy works. Enjoy!