In Defense of Eclectic Therapy
Whether you are a therapist or a patient, you may have noticed that there is a lot of debate about what type of therapy is most effective. It can be confusing because the arguments are so passionate on all sides. So let me offer another way: What if the most effective type of therapy isn’t one single type at all? And as a consumer, how do you know what you are signing up for?
In the course of these debates experts will sometimes decry therapists who have an "eclectic approach", implying that they are jacks of all trades, and masters of none. However I strongly believe that being "eclectic" should not be such a negative term. Rather, therapists who use a diversified approach to treatment should pride themselves in being able to deliver mental health care in a way that favors a thorough examination of a person’s needs and indeed their human-ness, rather than a one size fits all standard. The more accurate implication would be that such a therapist has an extensive understanding of a wide range of historically relevant, current best practice, and targeted techniques that they can draw from depending on the presenting issue. At Art Spa, our therapists are passionate about lifelong learning, and favor an eclectic, tailored approach to treatment. And here is why.
Imagine your car starts making a funny noise, and isn’t shifting gears so well. What if, upon bringing it into the shop, the mechanic said: “You need an oil change”. You may say: “Could you take a look? I think it may be the transmission”. And what if the mechanic then said: “Well, we find that 78% of the time, what’s needed is an oil change, so that’s what we’re going to do.” It may apply to your situation, in which case, good for you. But perhaps you are not in the statistical majority this time, and you need something else. You would pay for something that would ultimately fail to fix the problem.
So is the case with therapy. Sure, recent empirically researched interventions work well in many cases. The numbers back up their effectiveness, in part because they lend themselves well to being measured. But what if you need something else? Or something more? Should we apply the same treatment to each person who walks through our door, because studies show it to be the most statistically effective? Or should we find out exactly who this person is, what their strengths and vulnerabilities are, and tailor an approach that will ideally support them and make them whole?
As an example, a patient of mine came in with anxiety, depression, and extremely distorted thinking. I began working with him, applying CBT to address his symptoms, but something was still missing. He kept struggling. I realized that at the base of his troubles lay a profound sense of envy. So I returned to the writings of Melanie Klein, a post-freudian psychoanalyst who finds the root of people’s struggles in their early infancy. In her writings I found an exceptionally articulate and comprehensive description of my patient. I returned to our sessions with a newfound understanding of his pain and we worked to explore his early attachment to his mother, in order to elucidate why relationships continued to be so difficult for him.
If I had just done the one or the other, my patient would have missed out. I may have understood him, but not helped him gain the tools to change his outlook and his coping skills. Or I could have given him instruction on how to improve his behavior, but would never have touched that part deep at his core which felt unloved and unworthy.
An eclectic approach to treatment is the only approach that makes any sense. It signals that your therapist has a deep understanding of the complexity of the human condition. It presupposes that your therapist will not oversimplify your situation or think of you in statistical terms. It will require of your therapist to reach into a deep well of clinical, academic, and personal knowledge to find the right combination of theory and practice to keep you moving forward. It will make you feel that you are a whole and unique individual, as you rightly should feel. And that experience in itself, will be healing.