Psychological Eclectic Theory

The purpose of this research is to examine psychological eclectic theory as an integration of theoretical schools, including psychoanalytic, dispositional, phenomenological, behavioral, and classical. The plan of the research will be to set forth the context in which eclectic theory has arisen in connection with psychotherapy, and then to discuss various approaches to the subject in the literature.

Controversy exists in the psychotherapeutic community with regard to whether the theoretical orientation of eclecticism is either appropriate or useful as an approach to psychotherapy. Chater and Oaksford (1993) deplore a whole range of attributes associated with eclectic theory on several grounds. Lumping a number of different, often opposing, theories into one, they say, amounts to a theory that is defined in terms of itself, or is the result of a circular argument. Picking and choosing from among theories and calling the result an integrated approach amounts to a less rigorous intellectual and theoretical enterprise in this view. Chater and oaksford hold that amalgamating a variety of theories leads to no theory in particular. Another view is that the very process of theoretical integration has the potential to take what is most valuable from a variety of theoretical emphases and reinterpret theoretical validity to come up with a coherent methodological and conceptual approach to psychotherapy. In this regard, Arkowitz (1989) specifically says that theory has a significa

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the emphasis is on client needs in the therapy situation, and this appears to be the implicit benefit of departing from a rigid theoretical position. That view is supported by Loganbill and Hardy (1983, p. 79), who deplore the "myth" of "theoretical purity" and favor the use by therapists of pragmatically arrived at therapeutic techniques that can assist their clients. On the other hand, Nelson-Jones (1985) cautions that a "supermarket" eclectic approach may be deceptively comprehensive. Features to be considered when evaluating whether a therapy is theoretically comprehensive are "balanced emphasis on feelings, thoughts, and actions; an adequate concept of self and of personal agency; an emphasis on all major areas of human functioning; a remedial, developmental, and-self-help focus; easily understandable concepts and language; a focus on choices and skills; and a focus on interventions" (Nelson-Jones, 1985, p. 129). Meanwhile, Beitman (1989) develops a distinction between integrationism and eclecticism, favoring the more formalized and theoretical approach of integrationism owing to its ability to contain the concept of theoretical convergence and systematic approaches to specific symptomatic therapeutic treatment. That the

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