Pluralism is necessary in psychiatry to compensate for the errors and
biases characteristic of the equipment we use to appraise clinical
"reality"--our own perceptual-cognitive apparatus. Our attention to
clinical situations is skewed: we notice "data" consistent with past
assumptions and formulations, and consequently, those views are reinforced
by our perceptions. The eclectic posture involves approaching each clinical
situation from multiple theoretical perspectives and settling on a
perspective that most closely agrees with the patient's needs and wishes
without sacrificing the best information available to the psychiatrist.
Such eclecticism defines the psychiatrist's role as that of a broad-based
scholar who can apply what he knows to the clinical situation. The author
discusses the implications for clinical practice and psychiatric
education.Abstract Teaser