1. Psychotherapy Integration Unit 2: Common Factors
Information From
Stricker, G. (2011). Psychotherapy integration. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

2. Outline
History of Psychotherapy Integration
Contemporary Integration

3. History of Psychotherapy & Theoretical Integration
Freud
Stated “there are many ways and means of practicing psychotherapy. All that lead to recovery are good” (Freud, 1905/1953)
Identified common factors of client expectation and the central role of the therapist’s personality
French (1933)
Identified similarities between psychoanalysis and Pavlovian conditioning
His ideas were not well received at the time

4. History of Psychotherapy & Theoretical Integration
Rosenzweig (1936)
Pointed out commonalities in all psychotherapies
Dodo bird effect – “Everyone has won”
Alexander & French (1946)
Corrective emotional experience –the client re-experiences previously difficult relationships in the relationship with the counselor, and can experience those difficulties in new ways. This happens in all psychotherapies
Cyclical nature of insight leading to change and change leading to insight
These ideas were also not well received at the time

5. History of Psychotherapy & Theoretical Integration
Donnard & Miller (1950)
Wrote about psychoanalytic concepts in learning terms
Bridged a gap between two previously very different theories
Considered somewhat controversial, and not well received by current community

6. First Comprehensive Common Factors Work
Frank & Frank (1961)
Identified many commonalities across a vast arrange of change processes
Culturally comprehensive work
Initial list of common factors:
Expectancy for change
Arousal of hope
Emotional arousal
Encouragement of change outside of therapy
Encouragement of self-understanding through interpretations
Corrective emotional experiences

7. Two Approaches to Psychotherapy
London (1964) suggested that all kinds of psychotherapies could be grouped into one of two approaches
Action-Oriented
Encourage the client to take action to change behavior
Example: Behavior Therapy
Insight-Oriented
Seek to discuss matters of concern to promote understanding
Example: Psychoanalytic Approaches
Integration of these two approaches provides the most effective and longest lasting psychotherapeutic change

8. Historical Types of Integration
Understanding two theories by merging or translating the language of one into the language of the other (Dollard & Miller, 1950)
Lazarus (1976) – Multimodal Therapy
An example of technical eclecticism
BASIC-ID
Behavior
Affect
Sensation
Imagery
Cognition
Interpersonal Functioning
Drugs/Biology

9. Historical Types of Integration
Beck (1979) – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Combined aspects of cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy
Contemporary Era of Psychotherapy Integration was marked by the publication of Wachtel’s (1977) Psychoanalysis and Behavior Therapy

10. Contemporary Era of Psychotherapy Integration
Wachtel - All change in every therapy was a cyclical process
Groups & Resources for Psychotherapy Integration were created
Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration
Journal of Psychotherapy Integration
Handbook of Psychotherapy Integration
Comprehensive Handbook of Psychotherapy Integration

11. Contemporary Era of Psychotherapy Integration
Clinicians and Researches started creating different approaches to integrating aspects of many psychotherapies
Various types of integrated treatments have been developed
Transtheoretical approach – Levels of Change that apply to all psychotherapies
Dialectical Behavior Therapy – Integrates Eastern and Western approaches to therapy
Client Directed therapy

12. Contemporary Approaches to Integration
Four Approaches:
Common Factors
Technical Integration
Theoretical Integration
Assimilative Integration

13. Common Factors
Aspects of Psychotherapy that are present in all approaches to treatment
Students -- (Refer to ongoing slides for The Heart and Soul of Change, which focuses on common factors)

14. Technical Integration
Most simple form of integration
Use of techniques drawn from several different approaches
Also known as technical eclecticism
Sometimes seen as a “hodgepodge” of various techniques thrown together
Better when techniques are pulled together through a systematic basis for the combination of techniques
Techniques should compliment each other and be flexible to match different client needs

15. Theoretical Integration
Most difficult type of integration
Blending of different approaches to psychotherapy
Should produce a “grand unified theory”
All contradictions between theories must be addressed
Examples:
Cyclical Psychodynamics
Cognitive-analytic therapy
Behavioral Psychotherapy

16. Assimilative Integration
Most recently developed approach to integration
A solid theoretical approach is already established and different techniques are integrated in from other theories
Requires a theoretical meaning for each integrated technique
An example will be further explained next chapter