Pluralistic criteria for psychotherapy: an alternative to sectarianism, anarchy, and utopian integration

A pluralist revolution has taken place in psychotherapy, discarding the assumptions that only one theory can be true and that there exists only one method for finding it. Rejecting the anarchistic attitude of "anything goes" as professionally nihilistic, we propose that in the present pluralistic era it is necessary to recognize a multiplicity of perspectives for determining the rightness of therapeutic constructs. A construct or intervention is right to the extent that it fits demands for coherence and pragmatic value from a variety of perspectives, such as the patient's, the clinical community's, the academic community's, and the general public's. Within the clinical and academic communities, the greater the variety of acceptance (by different schools, theories, and methodologies), the greater the construct's cumulative rightness. The difference between this variety rule and a majority one is made explicit. Coherence and pragmatic value are widely accepted criteria and they define the universe of rational discourse in psychotherapy. Adding to these the requirement of multiple acceptability is the necessary step for creating rational dialogue in the new pluralistic world.