Eclectic Psychotherapy

It was not until the 1960s that specific models of psychotherapeutic eclecticism developed with sufficient clarity that they could blend complementary techniques across multiple theoretical perspectives. The best known among the early eclectic theorists is Arnold Lazarus. He formally introduced technical eclecticism with a broad encompassing treatment called multimodal therapy. Briefly, Lazarus assessed the level of problems that characterized the patient within seven domains of experience: (1) behavior, (2) affect, (3) sensation, (4) imagery, (5) cognition, (6) interpersonal relationships, and (7) drug/biological. The domains in which problems occurred served to guide the therapists to construct menus of techniques drawn from a variety of interventions to focus on these processes. The pattern of impairments across domains helped order the interventions. Thus, behavioral techniques were used to ...