Bergner, R.M. / Published 1992 / Article
Click here for full text (in PDF format).
Citation: Bergner, R.M. (1992). A Conceptual Framework for Eclectic
Psychotherapy. In M.K. Roberts, & R.M. Bergner, (Eds.). Clinical Topics:
Contributions to the Conceptualization and Treatment of Adolescent-Family
Problems, Bulimia, Chronic Mental Illness, and Mania. Advances in Descriptive Psychology, Vol. 6 (pp. 137-157). Ann Arbor, MI: Descriptive Psychology Press.
Abstract: In this paper, a Descriptive Psychologically based framework for an
eclectic approach to psychopathology and psychotherapy will be introduced. The
paper comprises four parts. First, Ossorio's definition of pathology and some
clarifications of this will be presented. Second, the parametric formulation of
behavior will be reviewed, and the ways in which it can be used as the conceptual
basis for an eclectic framework will be shown. Third, a pragmatic view of the nature of therapy, one which follows directly from the deficit model of pathology, will be
outlined. Fourth, many favored explanatory forms of our historically dominant
theories of pathology and therapy will be shown to constitute special cases within the present superordinate, eclectic framework.