Hello there:
Well, I'll try to get the ball rolling on this topic and paper.
First off, helpful paper!
What I would like to discuss is relevant to a major concern of this paper -- coming to grips with the relationship between integral and integrative approaches to psychotherapy. The paper makes some useful contributions by pointing out that empirical evidence in support of integrative approaches lends support to integral psychotherapy because integral psychotherapy can be seen as also one type of integrative approach. Furthermore, because of its comprehensiveness, integral psychotherapy might actually be a superior type of integrative approach.
I use type intentionally here to distinguish from altitude. Because I think by differentiaing integral as opposed to integrative via altitude we can see how AQAL can be used to enact a pattern that connects the four main streams of the integrative psychotherapy movement. So, lets look at three altitudes to get a sense of the geneology at work here; simultaneously, let's use a distinction of types as general orientations towards right-hand path (external or "empirical") or left-hand path (internal or "interpretive").
So, looking at altitude first, we have the era of the "single-system approach", broadly speaking the birth of modern psychotherapy at orange altitude via the big three of psychoanalysis, humanistic and behaviorism (1-2-3? sort of works here, doesn't it, at a very high level of abstraction?)
Then, we have the era of the integrative approaches, which Beutler and Norcross note really kicked in to gear in the 1970's and later: corresponding to the broader green altitude movement of pluralism; the integrative movement has consisted of four main streams (perhaps lines?), two of which are right-hand and two of which are left-hand. The left-hand path integrative approaches are theoretical integration and assimilative integration; the right-hand path integrative approaches are technical eclecticism and common factors. We might be able to further distinguish these four whether they tend towards the upper or lower quadrants: e.g. common factors focuses on what is collective across approaches; technical eclectism generally pulls from a variety of different approaches to fashion a unique approach (e.g. multimodal)...but this latter distinction could be stretching it...
At teal-turqoise, we can enact this view of a pattern that connects the pluralistically-minded integrative / eclectic movement -- and thus, in a sense, integrate the integrative approaches...
This would be helpful to see diagrammatically, but I'm not sure I have the computer skills to diagram this so well...perhaps three quadrant diagrams, one for orange, one for green, one for teal-turqoise...
I am very interested in any and all feedback on this...
Cheers,
Durwin
durwinfoster@gmail.com
Durwin Foster, M.A.
Doctoral Student, Counselling Psychology Program
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada
durwinfoster@gmail.com