Integrating Therapy Into Daily Life
Barbara Huey, LMSW | Mental Health Therapist
Therapy sessions are extremely valuable and significant in achieving personal growth and healing. The lessons learned in therapy are most useful if they are applied to your daily life. The true transformation occurs when you integrate the insights and strategies learned from your therapist into your daily routines. It can be difficult to make lasting changes in your daily routines. It certainly takes determination. The concept of “integrating therapy” stresses the importance in fostering these lasting changes to improve your overall well-being. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), "Integration refers to the process of combining different therapeutic approaches, techniques, and theories to create a personalized and effective treatment plan for each individual client" (APA, 2017). The goal of this blog post is to provide you with ideas to better incorporate lessons learned in therapy into your everyday life.
Lifestyle changes are not going to be made overnight. Start small and be specific. Choose one or two small changes to make daily. Identify the specific behaviors or thoughts that you want to target, and go from there. Here are five ideas on how to integrate therapy into your daily life:
Find Supportive People: Try to surround yourself with supportive and understanding individuals who can encourage and motivate you on your healing journey.
Practice Mindfulness: Encourage yourself to incorporate mindfulness practices such as meditation, deep breathing, or walking meditation into your daily routines. Mindfulness can help you stay present in the moment, manage stress, and respond to situations with greater awareness.
Identify and Challenge Negative Thought Patterns: Learn how to recognize and challenge negative thought patterns that contribute to your distress. Ask your therapist to provide you strategies for replacing negative thoughts with more balanced and realistic ones.
Practice Self-Compassion: Remind yourself to cultivate self-compassion and understanding as you navigate challenges and setbacks. Self-compassion is essential for building resilience and fostering a positive sense of self.
Set SMART Goals: Set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals for your personal growth. Break down large goals into smaller steps that can be easily implemented daily.
In conclusion, integration is extremely important to grow individually. Integration makes therapy more meaningful and relevant in your daily experiences. It will allow you to access a broader range of therapeutic tools and techniques tailored to your needs. And finally, integration fosters a deeper sense of collaboration between you and your therapist. This will only make your healing journey more successful.
With all of this being said, this constant integration may not be as easy as it sounds. It is easy to forget some lessons that you learn in therapy sessions. You may also be feeling overwhelmed by new skills or experiencing resistance to change. Don’t let this stop you from becoming a better version of yourself. Create a therapy journal, find a supportive therapist, and start breaking down skills into manageable steps. Once you feel ready, start making those daily changes to improve your overall quality of life.
Sources:
American Psychological Association (APA). (2017). Integration. In APA dictionary of psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/integration
Prochaska, J. O., & DiClemente, C. C. (1984). The transtheoretical model of health behavior change. American Journal of Health Promotion, 9(4), 384-398. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-9.4.384
Gawande, A. T. (2006). Atul Gawande on making small changes that stick. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/12/11/atul-gawande-on-making-small-changes-that-stick
