Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy: A Textbook

206 Pages·2019·2.669 MB·English

by  Basia Spalek, Mark Spalek

Integrative Counselling and
Psychotherapy
Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy: A Textbook is an engaging and comprehensive
guide to integrative counselling, providing an explanation of the theoretical ideas underpinning
person-centred, interpersonal, cognitive-behavioural (CBT) and hypnotherapeutic modalities.
Divided into two major sections, this book first provides a detailed exploration of the key
integrative concepts – presence, emotional and psychological processing, attachment, thinking,
and the unconscious – and then practically applies these concepts to the issues commonly
brought by clients to therapy.
With the help of case studies, exercises and chapter questions, I ntegrative Counselling
and Psychotherapy will be essential reading for students on integrative counselling and
psychotherapy courses and for integrative practitioners.
Basia Spalek is a Visiting Professor in Conflict Transformation at the University of Derby.
She is also a BACP accredited counsellor, working within the student counselling services at
the University of Leicester, and has her own private practice.
Mark Spalek is a Clinical Hypnotherapist, NLP Practitioner and Brief Solution Focussed
Therapist. He is also a Lecturer in Music Technology at Leicester College and De Montfort
University.

Integrative Counselling and
Psychotherapy
A Textbook
Basia Spalek and Mark Spalek
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Basia Spalek and Mark Spalek
The right of Basia Spalek and Mark Spalek to be identified as authors of this work
has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Spalek, Basia, author. | Spalek, Mark, author.
Title: Integrative counselling and psychotherapy : a textbook / Basia Spalek
and Mark Spalek.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2019. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019001320 (print) | LCCN 2019005572 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780203732915 (Master ebook) | ISBN 9781138300972 (hardback : alk. paper)
| ISBN 9781138301016 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780203732915 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Counseling. | Psychotherapy.
Classification: LCC BF636.6 (ebook) | LCC BF636.6 .S73 2019 (print) |
DDC 158.3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019001320
ISBN: 978-1-138-30097-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-30101-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-73291-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Biographies vi
Introduction vii
1 Presence for mental health and wellbeing: An integrative approach 1
2 Processing emotional and psychological distress integratively 25
3 Attachment as an integrative concept 43
4 Thinking, through an integrative therapeutic lens 62
5 Working integratively with our conscious and unconscious minds 81
6 Working integratively with bereavement and loss 104
7 Working integratively with anxiety 123
8 Working integratively with depression 143
9 Working integratively with relationships 161
10 Working integratively with shame and guilt 177
Conclusion 194
Index 197
Biographies
Basia Spalek is a Visiting Professor in Conflict Transformation at the University of Derby.
She has conducted internationally renowned research on community-based approaches
to countering violent extremism. Basia has also taught Integrative Counselling and Psy-
chotherapy to students studying for a Master’s degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy
at the University of Derby. Basia is a BACP accredited therapist and works part-time
for the University of Leicester Student Counselling Service. Basia also has her own private
therapy practice at Connect-and-Reflect.org.uk. Basia supervises Counselling and Psycho-
therapy trainees and practitioners, and she is currently supervising mental health workers
in Trondheim, Norway. Basia also enjoys long distance running, having completed many
marathons, and she is now a United Kingdom Athletics running coach.
Mark Spalek is a Clinical Hypnotherapist, NLP Practitioner and Self-Help Publisher with
a private practice in Leicester, Positive Suggestions, www.positivesuggestions.co.uk. He
specialises in working with fears, anxiety, depression and confidence. Mark is registered
with the General Hypnotherapy Register and offers a bespoke audio hypnotherapy service
at Positiveblossom.com for international clients. Mark has run relaxation and mindfulness
workshops for the local community as well as UK-based charities. He has taught confidence
building in Further Education and developed training materials for people wishing to get
back into employment. In his spare time Mark enjoys running, cycling and reading.
Linzi Allette , Illustrator, is a full-time parent, illustrator, and is currently in the midst of
writing and illustrating her own books based upon Islamic teachings for children, young
people and adults. Linzi has had a passion for, and involvement with, illustrating for over
18 years. Illustrating for this book has been a great opportunity and experience for Linzi.
The complex world of Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy is very fascinating to
explore. Linzi was able to use Basia and Mark’s insightful writing to her advantage whilst
illustrating, to aid the reader to gain a visual perspective of Basia and Mark’s professional
approaches as therapists. In her spare time Linzi enjoys a variety of activities: running, box-
ing, reading, painting and drawing. Linzi welcomes freelance illustration enquiries, and is
contactable at: [email protected]
Introduction
Increasing numbers of people in our society are seeking out personal therapy as a way of alle-
viating some of their emotional, psychological and even physical pain. Therapy is now widely
accepted as a means to enhancing mental health and wellbeing. As a result, many thousands of
new mental health practitioners are being trained in counselling skills and in therapeutic prac-
tice. But what actually is therapy? Is it about one human being with another? Does it involve an
emotional, psychological, even physical and meta-physical journey of some kind? Does ther-
apy involve achieving a heightened state of awareness, enlightenment maybe? Does it involve
examining the past in order to be able to live better in the present? Does therapy involve prac-
titioners in listening, providing empathy, reflecting back to clients? Is it about connection and
relationship? Therapy involves elements of all of these things, and more. Given the profound
and complex nature of therapy, what then is integrative therapeutic practice? How does the
integration of different therapeutic modalities like cognitive-behavioural, person-centred and
relational, enhance effective practice?
W e have been motivated to write I ntegrative Counselling and Psychotherapy: A Textbook
in order to explore and articulate as clearly as we can our own understanding of integrative
therapeutic practice, in order for students who are on counselling courses to be able to learn
and understand better what integration involves. We draw upon person-centred, cognitive-
behavioural, relational and hypnotherapeutic modalities and integrate these through the presenta-
tion of five key integrative concepts: presence, emotional processing, attachment, thinking and
the conscious/unconscious. Each of these concepts are explained at length in Chapters 1 to 5 of
this book. We then focus the second half of I ntegrative Counselling and Psychotherapy:
A Textbook (Chapters 6 to 10) on working integratively with grief and loss, anxiety, depression,
relationships, and guilt and shame, which are key issues that clients often bring to therapy.
Each chapter in I ntegrative Counselling and Psychotherapy: A Textbook has many differ-
ent therapeutic tools that students and other readers can use with their clients and also with
themselves. We know that these therapeutic interventions can be effective because we find that
they work with the clients that we see. We also present many case studies based on real life
clients as a way of illustrating integrative practice, and we provide questions for mental health
students and practitioners, which can be used for group work or for individual study.
We have striven to create a book that is engaging to read, and so we have written a number
of short stories within each chapter as a way of explaining key ideas and issues. We are keen
to convey the creative process that therapy involves, and so what better way to do this than to
be creative ourselves when writing this book? We have also included in the chapters consider-
able space for self-reflection because key to being an excellent mental health practitioner is
self-awareness. Both of us have been on significant personal journeys ourselves and so we
viii Introduction
have brought our own unique histories and experiences when writing this book. We hope that
students and other readers have as much pleasure reading the book as we had when writing it.
One final thought: we hope that in reading this book you are inspired to be a creative practitio-
ner, for this is really what therapy means to us – being creative with another human being in
order to help facilitate kindness, compassion, joy, tolerance and other positive aspects to being
human. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
Presence for mental health
and wellbeing
An integrative approach
All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
Blaise Pascal, P ensées (1662)
Introduction
We begin this book by journeying into and exploring presence. The notion of presence comes
from a book by Patsy Rodenburg (2007). Her argument is that we each inhabit what might
be called three ‘circles of energy’. Circle one is primarily withdrawn, like a headache feeling
or intense lethargy/shyness, circle three is an uncontrolled release of wild energy, like Friday
night drinkers or party dancers, and circle two is a centred ‘two way street’ of giving out and
taking in – an alert cat, or political interviewer, carefully taking in the responses and returning
with a balanced challenge – which could also be describing advanced tennis players, Formula
One drivers, surgeons etc. Presence is about becoming more balanced and inhabiting each
moment; and in relation to Rodenburg’s (2007) three circle metaphor, it is about inhabiting
energy circle two.
The focus on presence in Chapter 1 demonstrates the centrality of this notion when working
therapeutically with our clients, and when considering our own wellbeing as mental health
practitioners. It is important to be able to cultivate within ourselves a connection to the present,
to the timelessness of each and every moment, and a proactive stance upon the world, and to
work with our clients to help them understand and cultivate their own unique experiencing of
presence. In today’s society there seems to be a constant fragmentation of who we really are,
a constant pressure to achieve, a fast pattern of change, a restlessness and lack of focus. It is
important to understand these societal stressors and the challenges that they pose for presence,
in order to be able to empower ourselves and to effectively work with clients.
In this chapter we introduce you to presence as an integrative concept that can help to
capture many different techniques that work within and across different psychotherapeutic
modalities. We argue that presence is a useful way of thinking about and drawing together
relaxation techniques, breathing techniques, mindfulness, body posture, grounding techniques,
and pacing and leading. In this chapter we aim to introduce you to the techniques that we have
found useful when working integratively with clients and we suggest exercises to practise
these techniques, on ourselves, in groups, and in clinical supervision. We offer suggestions
for how these techniques can be applied to clients, drawing on our own clinical experiences.
There is also a theory section that links the notion of presence to theoretical concepts endemic