Department Coordinator: Psychotherapist Stefan Cepoi, actor National Theatre Craiova

Starting from the integrative concept presented by Dr. Ken Evans and Maria Gilbert in the book "Introduction to Psychotherapy" regarding the relationships of the self from an interpersonal perspective, with race, culture, social and political context, the department aims to integrate the intercultural dimension of the spirit of the 21st century by combining the connection between education, art, communication, and interhuman relations brought into the field of psychotherapy.

INTEGRATIVE APPROACH: MULTICULTURAL AND TRANSCULTURAL

We also agree with Eleftheriadou's correct distinction between a "multi-cultural" approach and a "trans-cultural" one. The former involves using one's own reference points to understand another person, while the latter emphasizes the need to "go beyond cultural differences" (Elefthriadou, 1994).

The integrative psychotherapist, supported by a foundation based on the phenomena of integrative psychotherapy, adopts a position where all phenomena are accepted as "normal", as the subjective reality of a person. Thus, the integrative psychotherapist can transcend cultures by respecting the client's unique worldview and values, and consequently allows cultural issues to influence the process and direction of therapeutic work.

The Romanian school of integrative psychotherapy believes that the belief system is the factor that filters how an individual represents their world. Chekhov says that "a man is what he believes he is" and, usually, when we think of beliefs as creeds or doctrines, we understand by this the organized, predetermined filters for how we perceive reality. The belief system represents the compass by which we map the intrapsychic reality we enter into the therapeutic relationship.

Therefore, it is important to take into consideration the internal and external reference frames of each participant in the therapeutic act. Any human behavior is based on a pattern according to which experiences are organized and function according to the metaprograms existing at any given moment in each individual. Metaprograms are the internal programs or patterns through which a person forms their representations and directs their behavior.

On each person's journey to themselves, through love, empathy, and truth we can create harmony, managing to bring a spark of enlightenment into our lives and those of the people we interact with in the therapeutic process, and as therapists, through altruism and dedication, through love, devotion, and sincerity, we heal, becoming ourselves a light in the temple of another's consciousness.