A large number of therapists identify themselves as “eclectic.” Although different terms are sometimes used—eclecticism, integration, convergence, and rapprochement—the goals are very similar: to enhance the efficiency and applicability of psychotherapy. In the mental health professions, there is a decided preference for the term integrative over eclectic. Psychotherapy integration is best characterized by attempts to look beyond and across the confines of single-school approaches to see what can be learned from other perspectives and how clients can benefit from a variety of ways of conducting therapy. An integrative perspective rests on the assumption that different clients require different methods, yet this blending of concepts and methods needs to be done systematically.

At its worst, eclectic practice consists of haphazardly picking techniques without an overall theoretical rationale. ...