In Support of Technical Eclecticism

Abstract

It is argued that psychotherapists who function as eclectic theorists must inevitably embrace divergent and contradictory notions. To remain theoretically consistent does not require the rejection of promising techniques culled from other theoretical orientations. Technical eclecticism can enrich the practitioner's range of therapeutic effectiveness without violating his allegiance to a theoretical system which best satisfies his own subjective needs. The view upheld is that therapeutic competence depends upon an array of effective techniques rather than upon a mass of plausible theories.