An in-depth look at a much misunderstood practice, offering a fresh viewpoint on how this science can be a universally effective route to our better selves.

In Psychotherapy Integration, George Stricker discusses the history, theory, and practice of this approach to therapy. Although no single therapeutic model claims a majority of practitioners, the most frequently endorsed approach is integrative or eclectic therapy. This attests to the reality of modern psychotherapy practice, which is that almost every therapist uses, at least in part, psychotherapy integration. Psychotherapy integration looks beyond the confines of single-school approaches to see what can be learned and incorporated from other perspectives. Integration involves not only taking techniques from other models and applying them in different approaches - something usually categorized as eclecticism - but also attending to the relationship between technique and theory. This brief introduction describes the full range of psychotherapy integration models, including the common factors approach, technical integration, theoretical integration, and assimilative integration, with a particular focus on the last approach. In this book, the author presents and explores psychotherapy integration, its theory, history, the therapy process, primary change mechanisms, empirical basis, and future developments. This essential primer, amply illustrated with case examples featuring diverse clients, is perfect for graduate students studying theories of therapy and counseling as well as for seasoned practitioners interested in understanding this approach. It is part of the ""Theories of Psychotherapy"".

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. dimensions of human nourishment 2. the levels of human nourishment 3. model for helping 4. apparency in search of a person: The unique contributions of the client centered approach 5. man for each other: unique contributions of the existential approach 6. the illusive suicide: The unique contributions of the psychoanalytic approach 7. chance, not choice or change: the unique contributions of the trait and factor counseling approach 8. to act or not to act: The unique contributions of behavior modification approaches 9. beyond the known: The phases of helping 10. crisis therapy: The crossroads for client and therapist 11. in search of an honest experience; Confrontation in cousneling and life 12. differential treatment: other sources of gain in help 13. cousneling as a way of life 14. Training as a way of life 15. a statement of training values 16. beyond counseling and therapy.