Developmental eclecticism

Last updated

Developmental eclecticism or systematic eclecticism is an eclectic psychotherapy framework that was developed by Gerard Egan beginning in the 1970s. [1] [2] [3] It is also referred to as the skilled helper model, after the title of Egan's book The Skilled Helper. [4] [5]

Contents

Development

Egan's eclectic model was developed amid the shift in the field of counselling and psychotherapy away from the adherence to distinct schools of therapy and toward an integration of therapies that appear to be universally effective. [6] The framework was also influenced by the works of Carl Rogers and Robert Carkhuff, particularly these authors' theories on person-centered values and principles. [3] [4] Egan introduced his approach through the book The Skilled Helper, which was published in 1975. [1] In this book, Egan explained that the framework aims to help clients to: 1) identify and explore problems and opportunities; 2) determine their needs and wants; 3) discover for themselves how to obtain them; and, 4) act based on what they learned. [7]

Model

Egan's eclectic model was first proposed as a humanistic framework but it increasingly adopted a more action-oriented form of therapy later on. [1] Egan likened the model to the browser in the sense that, like a web browser, it can be used to mine, organize, and evaluate concepts and techniques that work for clients regardless of their background. [7] Its eclectic orientation also means that the framework makes use of techniques regardless of their theoretical origin. [8]

The developmental process involves three stages—exploration, understanding, and action—and each of these entails a set of associated skills. [1] The first stage is focused on the client as the therapist attempts to build a rapport and to understanding the client's experiences and goals in the process. [9] The stage of understanding or interpretation requires the therapist to formulate the problem using techniques such as psychodynamic and cognitive approaches. [9] Finally, the action stage uses behavioral strategies such as homework assignments. [9] Egan's three stages were later renamed: present scenario, preferred scenario, and getting there. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Rogers</span> American psychologist (1902–1987)

Carl Ransom Rogers was an American psychologist who was one of the founders of humanistic psychology and was known especially for his person-centered psychotherapy. Rogers is widely considered one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research and was honored for his pioneering research with the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1956.

Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome problems. Psychotherapy aims to improve an individual's well-being and mental health, to resolve or mitigate troublesome behaviors, beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, or emotions, and to improve relationships and social skills. Numerous types of psychotherapy have been designed either for individual adults, families, or children and adolescents. Certain types of psychotherapy are considered evidence-based for treating some diagnosed mental disorders; other types have been criticized as pseudoscience.

Psychosynthesis is an approach to psychology that expands the boundaries of the field by identifying a deeper center of identity, which is the postulate of the Self. It considers each individual unique in terms of purpose in life, and places value on the exploration of human potential. The approach combines spiritual development with psychological healing by including the life journey of an individual or their unique path to self-realization.

Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment, clinical formulation, and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.

Counseling psychology is a psychological specialty that began with a focus on vocational counseling, but later moved its emphasis to adjustment counseling, and then expanded to cover all normal psychology psychotherapy. There are many subcategories for counseling psychology, such as marriage and family counseling, rehabilitation counseling, clinical mental health counseling, educational counseling, etc. In each setting, they are all required to follow the same guidelines.

Integrative psychotherapy is the integration of elements from different schools of psychotherapy in the treatment of a client. Integrative psychotherapy may also refer to the psychotherapeutic process of integrating the personality: uniting the "affective, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological systems within a person".

Person-centered therapy, also known as person-centered psychotherapy, person-centered counseling, client-centered therapy and Rogerian psychotherapy, is a form of psychotherapy developed by psychologist Carl Rogers and colleagues beginning in the 1940s and extending into the 1980s. Person-centered therapy seeks to facilitate a client's actualizing tendency, "an inbuilt proclivity toward growth and fulfillment", via acceptance, therapist congruence (genuineness), and empathic understanding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Four stages of competence</span> Psychological states when gaining a skill

In psychology, the four stages of competence, or the "conscious competence" learning model, relates to the psychological states involved in the process of progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill. People may have several skills, some unrelated to each other, and each skill will typically be at one of the stages at a given time. Many skills require practice to remain at a high level of competence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narrative therapy</span> Form of psychotherapy

Narrative therapy is a form of psychotherapy that seeks to help patients identify their values and the skills associated with them. It provides the patient with knowledge of their ability to live these values so they can effectively confront current and future problems. The therapist seeks to help the patient co-author a new narrative about themselves by investigating the history of those values. Narrative therapy is a social justice approach to therapeutic conversations, seeking to challenge dominant discourses that shape people's lives in destructive ways. While narrative work is typically located within the field of family therapy, many authors and practitioners report using these ideas and practices in community work, schools and higher education. Narrative therapy has come to be associated with collaborative as well as person-centered therapy.

Existential psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy based on the model of human nature and experience developed by the existential tradition of European philosophy. It focuses on concepts that are universally applicable to human existence including death, freedom, responsibility, and the meaning of life. Instead of regarding human experiences such as anxiety, alienation and depression as implying the presence of mental illness, existential psychotherapy sees these experiences as natural stages in a normal process of human development and maturation. In facilitating this process of development and maturation existential psychotherapy involves a philosophical exploration of an individual's experiences while stressing the individual's freedom and responsibility to facilitate a higher degree of meaning and well-being in his or her life.

The Internal Family Systems Model (IFS) is an integrative approach to individual psychotherapy developed by Richard C. Schwartz in the 1980s. It combines systems thinking with the view that the mind is made up of relatively discrete subpersonalities, each with its own unique viewpoint and qualities. IFS uses systems psychology, particularly as developed for family therapy, to understand how these collections of subpersonalities are organized.

Emotionally focused therapy and emotion-focused therapy (EFT) are a set of related approaches to psychotherapy with individuals, couples, or families. EFT approaches include elements of experiential therapy, systemic therapy, and attachment theory. EFT is usually a short-term treatment. EFT approaches are based on the premise that human emotions are connected to human needs, and therefore emotions have an innately adaptive potential that, if activated and worked through, can help people change problematic emotional states and interpersonal relationships. Emotion-focused therapy for individuals was originally known as process-experiential therapy, and it is still sometimes called by that name.

A clinical formulation, also known as case formulation and problem formulation, is a theoretically-based explanation or conceptualisation of the information obtained from a clinical assessment. It offers a hypothesis about the cause and nature of the presenting problems and is considered an adjunct or alternative approach to the more categorical approach of psychiatric diagnosis. In clinical practice, formulations are used to communicate a hypothesis and provide framework for developing the most suitable treatment approach. It is most commonly used by clinical psychologists and is deemed to be a core component of that profession. Mental health nurses, social workers, and some psychiatrists may also use formulations.

Common factors theory, a theory guiding some research in clinical psychology and counseling psychology, proposes that different approaches and evidence-based practices in psychotherapy and counseling share common factors that account for much of the effectiveness of a psychological treatment. This is in contrast to the view that the effectiveness of psychotherapy and counseling is best explained by specific or unique factors that are suited to treatment of particular problems.

Future-oriented therapy (FOT) and future-directed therapy (FDT) are approaches to psychotherapy that place greater emphasis on the future than on the past or present.

The Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS) is a behavioral health outcomes management system for counseling and therapy services developed by Barry Duncan and Scott Miller. The therapeutic approach was inspired by Michael J. Lambert’s research regarding the use of consumer feedback during the therapeutic process with the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 (OQ) and is designed to be a briefer method to measure therapeutic outcome.

Gerard Egan is Professor Emeritus of Loyola University of Chicago. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on 17 June 1930, graduated from Loyola Academy, Chicago in June 1948, and from Loyola University, June 1953, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He studied philosophy at West Baden College in Indiana, then a Jesuit seminary linked to Loyola University, and received a Licentiate in Philosophy in June 1955. From September 1966 to June 1967, he taught French and Spanish at St. Ignatius High School, Chicago, and began teaching philosophy at Loyola University in September 1968.

Vittorio Filippo Guidano was an Italian neuropsychiatrist, creator of the cognitive procedural systemic model and contributor to constructivist post-rationalist cognitive therapy. His cognitive post-rationalist model was influenced by attachment theory, evolutionary epistemology, complex systems theory, and the prevalence of abstract mental processes proposed by Friedrich Hayek. Guidano conceived the personal system as a self-organized entity, in constant development.

Eclectic psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy in which the clinician uses more than one theoretical approach, or multiple sets of techniques, to help with clients' needs. The use of different therapeutic approaches will be based on the effectiveness in resolving the patient's problems, rather than the theory behind each therapy.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Rollanders, Henry (2003). "The eclectic and integrative approach" . In Woolfe, Ray; Dryden, Windy; Strawbridge, Sheelagh (eds.). Handbook of Counselling Psychology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. pp. 277–300 (282). ISBN   978-0-7619-7207-5. OCLC   52594976.
  2. ↑ Sanders, Pete (2011). First Steps in Counselling: A Students' Companion for Introductory Courses. Steps in Counselling Series (4th ed.). Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books. pp. 41, 52. ISBN   9781906254414. OCLC   750165248.
  3. 1 2 Inskipp, Francesca; Johns, Hazel (1984). "Developmental eclecticism: Egan's skills model of helping" . In Dryden, Windy (ed.). Individual Therapy in Britain. London: Harper & Row. pp.  364–389. ISBN   9780063182981. OCLC   12941745.
  4. 1 2 Wosket, Val (2006). "The skilled helper model" . In Feltham, Colin; Horton, Ian (eds.). The Sage Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. pp.  334–337. ISBN   1412902754. OCLC   61879103.
  5. ↑ Jenkins, Peter (2000). "Gerard Egan's skilled helper model". In Woolfe, Ray; Palmer, Stephen (eds.). Integrative and Eclectic Counselling and Psychotherapy. London; Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. pp.  163–180. ISBN   0761957987. OCLC   47217023.
  6. ↑ Wosket, Val (2006). Egan's Skilled Helper Model: Developments and Implications in Counselling. New York: Routledge. p. 1. doi:10.4324/9780203965153. ISBN   978-1-58391-203-4. OCLC   63245357.
  7. 1 2 Egan, Gerard (2014). The Skilled Helper: A Problem-Management and Opportunity-Development Approach to Helping (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning. pp.  22–23, 29–31. ISBN   9781285065717. OCLC   847245712.
  8. ↑ Lindsay, Trevor (2013). "Bringing it all together: integrative and eclectic models". In Lindsay, Trevor (ed.). Social Work Intervention. Transforming Social Work Practice (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Learning Matters, SAGE Publications. pp. 185–193. ISBN   978-1-4462-6664-9. OCLC   821700455.
  9. 1 2 3 Joseph, Stephen (2010). Theories of Counselling and Psychotherapy: An Introduction to the Different Approaches (2nd ed.). London: Red Globe Press, Palgrave Macmillan. p.  153. ISBN   9780230576377. OCLC   473445904.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.