Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:138-147
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
The movement toward integrating the psychotherapies: an overview
BD Beitman, MR Goldfried and JC Norcross
Department of Psychiatry, University of Missouri-Columbia.
There is a growing tendency among psychotherapists to ignore the
ideological barriers dividing schools of psychotherapy and to define what
is common among them and what is useful in each of them. After a brief
introduction the authors provide a short glossary of terms often associated
with psychotherapy integration. They then characterize integrative-eclectic
therapists, describe the forces fostering their emergence, and outline
recurrent themes of the movement and points of contention within it. The
authors hope to encourage clinical thinking about the less ideological
approaches to psychotherapy and to advance the integrative movement, which
is likely to influence psychotherapeutic practice for decades to come.
