ABSTRACT
Our ®rst de®nition refers to a holistic view of the person, a view that sees the person as an integrated whole: affectively, cognitively, behaviourally, physically and spiritually (Lapworth et al., 2001). Such a holistic view may also focus on the developing self as a central integrating principle with an elaboration of different dimensions of the self (Stern, 2003; Evans and Gilbert, 2005). Integration in this sense aims at helping the person to deal with blocks to awareness, be these the result of repression, dissociation, non-conscious unformulated experience or other more conscious forms of disavowal, so that the person can become `whole' and take charge of his or her life. A second de®nition refers to the integration of theories and/or concepts and/or techniques from different approaches to psychotherapy. This is essentially an integration at the level of theory and technique, and involves drawing together a model of integration from different orientations in the ®eld. We will be discussing in greater detail some different variations of integration that are currently used later in this section. However, we consider that integration in this way at the level of theory and technique is an essential process in the development of the integrative psychotherapist.
