Am J Psychiatry 1983; 140:740-745
Copyright © 1983 by American Psychiatric Association
Beyond eclecticism
EM Abroms
Biopsychosocial eclecticism is incomplete because it does not address the
important issues of differential causation and treatment staging.
Psychiatric serialism goes beyond eclecticism to consider biological,
psychosocial, and existential-moral parameters as equipotential and
hierarchical. What this means in practice is that, after forming a
treatment alliance, the therapist must always assess the evidence for a
biological substrate of disorder and, where feasible, administer the
appropriate biological treatments. On a stable biological platform,
psychosocial interventions can then be utilized to promote the goals of
lieben and arbeiten, and an existential therapy relationship can be forged
to promote personal integrity.
