[The integration of methods in residential psychotherapy]

The trend toward integration of psychotherapy into general medical practice has, especially in inpatient treatment of neurotic diseases, led to the development of psychotherapeutic systems, the differences of which are largely dependent upon both clinical conditions and therapeutical objectives. The author, in the light of ten years of practical experience with group psychotherapy of patients living in a hospital, gives a schematic outline of the Berlin system of integration of methods, discussing the system with reference to Kabanov's four basic principles, namely, the principle of the partnership of doctor and patient, the principle of the differences in efforts and effects, the principle of the unity of efficacy of methods, and the principle of the gradual transitions between methods and procedures. A detailed discussion is given of the gradual transition principle by reference to the phase-specific procedure of group psychotherapy and the methods of treatment coordinated therewith.