Cognitive restructuring
Identifies and revises the specific thoughts sustaining distress.
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Research Program
Studying Conscious Integrative Therapy
A practitioner-developed framework, carefully documented and ready for independent study. We are seeking research partners and funders to take it from clinical practice to peer-reviewed evidence.
Stage I
of the NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development
Manual
Treatment Manual, Draft v1.0 (September 2026)
Fidelity
Adherence framework, Draft v0.1, ready for inter-rater piloting
Outcomes
No controlled outcome data yet. That is the work we want to fund.
The Opportunity
An honest starting point for real research
Western psychology maps observable behavior and cognition well, yet many people report that symptom reduction alone does not resolve a sense of fragmentation. At the same time, clients increasingly arrive already meditating, doing breathwork, practicing yoga or exploring hypnosis. The clinical question is no longer whether contemplative material enters the therapy room, but whether it is handled competently.
Conscious Integrative Therapy (CIT) is Susan J. Razavi’s answer to that question, developed over more than three decades of clinical practice in New York. CIT draws on the documented lineage of CBT, MBCT and DBT. Its component interventions rest on established evidence bases; CIT as an integrated model has not been studied.
Rather than overstate what is known, Susan has done the groundwork research requires: a written treatment manual, a draft fidelity framework, a precise statement of the claim to be tested, and a step-by-step research roadmap. A clearly specified, untested claim is exactly what researchers can work with.
The Model
Five integrated domains
CIT is a practice-derived integrative synthesis: a licensed-psychotherapy model with adjunctive contemplative material, organized around a stance of compassionate awareness.
Mindfulness
Builds present-moment awareness, so cognitive work can happen without reactivating the same pattern.
Emotion regulation
Develops distress tolerance and the capacity to stay with difficult states.
Relational attunement
Supplies the co-regulation and therapeutic alliance within which the other domains operate.
Somatic & nutritional awareness
Attends to sleep, movement and information intake, with nutrition handled only as inquiry, general education and referral.
Lineage
- CBTTop-down: cognition and behavior
- MBCTAdds bottom-up, present-moment awareness
- DBTAdds mindfulness with emotion-regulation and distress-tolerance skills
- CITIntegrates these, adding a contemplative ethical frame, a two-column formulation, and hypnotherapy (TrancePlan) as an adjunctive delivery vehicle
What Is Distinctive
Four elements worth studying
01SynthesisResearch priority one
The two-column formulation
The clinician’s hypothesis is recorded alongside the client’s own explanatory framework, in the client’s own words, without the clinician adopting or disputing it. It is concrete, teachable and auditable, and can be tested against standard formulation on alliance and cultural-humility outcomes.
02Synthesis
An explicit ethical frame as clinical targets
The five Yamas of classical yoga philosophy are mapped to named clinical targets, for example Ahimsa (non-harming) to self-directed hostility and fear-driven reactivity, each paired with established interventions. The mapping itself is original and untested.
03Synthesis
Client-led integration
The widespread use of complementary practices is documentable. CIT reframes it as an obligation of clinical competence rather than a matter of preference.
04Synthesis
Lifestyle awareness with a scope wall
Sleep, movement and information intake sit inside the psychotherapy formulation, with an explicit boundary: nutritional and supplement questions are met with inquiry, general education and referral, never clinical claims.
Where the Evidence Stands
Evidence for a component is not evidence for the package
Every element of CIT carries one of three labels. The labels describe the evidence for each component, never for CIT as a whole.
Established
Supported by replicated randomized trials or meta-analyses of the component, not of CIT.
Synthesis
Susan Razavi’s original integration, interpretation or clinical translation.
Untested
Plausible and coherent, but not yet the subject of controlled research.
| Component | Nearest studied approach | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Cognitive restructuring | CBT | Established |
| Mindfulness training | MBCT, MBSR | Established |
| Emotion regulation & distress tolerance | DBT (in specified populations) | Established |
| Relational attunement | Therapeutic alliance; self-compassion | Partly established |
| Somatic awareness | Yoga for depression; lifestyle medicine | Moderate to low quality |
| Hypnosis (TrancePlan delivery) | Clinical hypnosis | Uneven by condition |
| Two-column formulation | — | Synthesis |
| Yama / Niyama-to-target mapping | — | Synthesis |
| CIT as an integrated model | — | Untested |
What does not exist yet, stated plainly
- Treatment manualDraft v1.0 written
- Fidelity & adherence measureDraft v0.1, needs inter-rater testing
- Controlled outcome dataNone: no pilot, case series or qualitative study
- Specified population, dose and sequenceOpen research question
- Evidence that integration adds benefitUntested
The Claim to Be Tested
Concurrent, structured attention to five domains — somatic and nutritional awareness, cognitive restructuring, mindfulness, emotion regulation, and relational attunement — organized around a contemplative ethical frame and a formulation that documents the client’s own explanatory model alongside the clinician’s, produces integration that single-domain protocols do not.
Untested Every clause is researchable. None has been researched yet.
Open Questions
Five research questions
-
Does the two-column formulation improve alliance or cultural-humility outcomes compared with standard formulation?
Most tractable: a small pilot is feasible. -
Can independent clinicians apply the Yama-to-clinical-target mapping reliably?
A fidelity and inter-rater question, and the prerequisite for everything else. -
Does five-domain integration outperform a single-domain comparison?
The core claim, and the most expensive to test. -
What is the adverse-event profile of CIT’s contemplative components in trauma-affected clients?
Safety research that should run alongside any efficacy work. -
Who is CIT for: which population, at what dose, in what sequence?
Needed before any larger trial can be designed.
The Roadmap
From practice to peer review
An eight-step plan, starting with the highest rigor per dollar and building toward independent, funded trials.
- Draft complete
Manualize CIT
Theory of change, session structure, required, optional and prohibited elements, population and exclusion criteria, reported with the TIDieR checklist.
- In progress
Build a fidelity measure
Turn the draft adherence framework into behaviorally anchored ratings, then establish inter-rater reliability with a second trained rater.
- Next
Complete research training
CITI Social-Behavioral-Educational research and Good Clinical Practice courses.
- Funding needed
Independent IRB review
Ethics review through an independent or academic Institutional Review Board.
- Funding needed
A small, rigorous first study
A single-case experimental design series, or a pilot study measuring feasibility, retention, fidelity and acceptability only. Pre-registered on ClinicalTrials.gov or OSF.
- Planned
Publish
Submission to peer-reviewed venues in evidence-based social work, pilot and feasibility research, and clinical hypnosis.
- Partner needed
Scale
Through practice research networks or an academic partnership.
- Partner needed
Pursue federal funding
Programs such as NIMH R34 or NCCIH mind–body grants, which require an institutional home and a doctoral-level principal investigator.
Safety & Ethics
Safeguards built in from the start
Screening first
A ten-item screen is completed before any breathwork, trance or contemplative technique, with a dose-modification protocol for sensitive clients and an explicit stop signal.
Clear exclusions
Techniques are not used, and stabilization or referral comes first, with active psychosis or mania, unmanaged dissociation, acute suicidality, intoxication or withdrawal, or unstabilized trauma.
Limits on hypnosis
Hypnosis is never used to recover memories or for forensic purposes. Material arising in trance is recorded as reported in session, not as verified fact.
Adverse events tracked
The meditation adverse-event literature is carried alongside the efficacy literature, and every technique’s tolerance and side effects are documented.
No conflicts with care
No testimonials are solicited, the developer’s books and courses are never sold to clients, and treatment is never conditioned on adopting the CIT framework.
Licensed scope
Clinical services are provided by a New York State LCSW-R to clients located in New York State at the time of service.
Get Involved
Ways to partner
Whether you fund research, conduct it, or can open a door, there is a concrete, near-term role for you.
Funders & foundations
Support ethics review, research training and a first single-case study series: the steps that turn a documented framework into publishable data.
Academic researchers
Serve as principal investigator or institutional home for a pilot, feasibility study or federal application such as NIMH R34 or NCCIH.
Clinicians & networks
Join a practice research network, or act as a trained second rater for the fidelity measure’s inter-rater reliability study.
Methods & review expertise
Offer guidance on single-case design, statistics, outcome measures or IRB preparation, paid or in kind.
Start a conversation
Write to Susan directly. Qualified reviewers can request the full Treatment Manual (Draft v1.0) and Master Framework (v1.0).
Developer & Practitioner of Record
Susan J. Razavi, LCSW‑R
Licensed clinical social worker in New York State with more than three decades of clinical experience, a certified professional hypnotherapist since 2009, and a certified yoga teacher. Susan works with immigrant and intergenerational family systems and with professionals in high-stress settings. She is the author of Conscious Integrative Therapy (2025).
Disclosure of interest: Susan is the developer of CIT and the author of the book and paid educational materials describing it, and receives income from their sale. Independent investigators are essential to any study of the model.
Selected references
- Razavi, S. J. (2025). Conscious Integrative Therapy. New York: Susan J. Razavi. ISBN 979-8-218-76665-8.
- Cuijpers, P., Karyotaki, E., et al. (2016). A network meta-analysis of the effects of psychotherapies for major depressive disorder in adults. World Psychiatry, 15(3). Link
- Kuyken, W., et al. (2016). Efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in prevention of depressive relapse. JAMA Psychiatry, 73(6). Link
- Khoury, B., et al. (2015). Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 78(6). Link
- Panos, J. T., et al. (2013). A review of the efficacy of dialectical behavior therapy. Research on Social Work Practice, 23(5). Link
- Wilson, A. C., et al. (2019). The effectiveness of self-compassion-focused interventions on reducing self-criticism. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy. Link
- Moosburner, K., et al. (2024). Yoga for depression: a systematic review. Depression and Anxiety. Link
- Rosendahl, J., et al. (2024). The efficacy of clinical hypnosis: a systematic review of meta-analyses. Frontiers in Psychology. Link
- Farias, M., et al. (2020). Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: a systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 142(5). Link
- Bellg, A. J., et al. (2004). Enhancing treatment fidelity in health behavior change studies. American Journal of Public Health, 94(5). Link
- National Institutes of Health. NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development. Link
This page describes a proposed research program. CIT is a practice-derived framework that has not been studied as an integrated model, and nothing here is a claim of efficacy for any condition. This is general education, not psychotherapy, diagnosis, or treatment, and reading it creates no therapist-client relationship. Clinical services are provided only to people located in New York State at the time of service. In crisis, call or text 988. In an emergency, call 911.