Assimilative and Accommodative Integration: The Basic Dialectics

Abstract

Two basic styles in psychotherapy integration can be described, in which respectively the assimilative or the accommodative mode of proceeding preponderate. The first is chosen by those who wish to keep a firm grounding in any one theoretical system, into which they incorporate perspectives or practices from other schools, reinterpreted and reformulated in their own terms. The second is favored by those who prefer to practice eclectically, without worrying too much about the contradictions and incompatibilities among the different approaches. The latter therapists can remain at this purely eclectic level, or move on towards a proper integration. In this case the integration does not usually happen on the base of a preferred system, as in theoretical integration, but rather follows the line of the common factors approach. This integration mode has a prevalent accommodative character. It points to a basic structure that is common to the different methods, and becomes clearer the more the relation is freed of the constriction of theoretical models. An attempt is made to show the substantial complementarity and the dialectical relation that links the two fundamental modes of psychotherapy integration.