Synergistic Psychotherapy: Post-Eclectic Forms of Therapy for Axis II

Abstract

Today, it is economic forces that drive developments in psychotherapy. While most therapists are eclectics, eclecticism is not a theoretical orientation. However, practical eclecticism may be, the goals of science are nevertheless the development of ideas and models which integrate the discipline. Likewise, the personality construct is necessarily integrative, and thus specifically prescribes the form of therapies for the Axis II disorders, called “potentiated pairings” and “catalytic sequences.” These may be constructed from any of a number of functional and structural domains (e.g., behavioral acts, interpersonal conduct, self image) which parallel traditional perspectives on personality. Despite the promise of forms of therapy addressed to the whole person, and its failure to specify comparable and comprehensive diagnostic attributes across the domains in which the personality disorders are expressed.