Integrative problem-centered metaframeworks therapy I: core concepts and hypothesizing

Over the last 20 years psychotherapy and family therapy have been inundated with a plethora of empirically validated treatments for particular disorders. That trend will increase. Psychotherapists will increasingly be exhorted and ultimately required to integrate empirical data and multicultural competence into their practice. Additionally, individual psychotherapy's default dominance of psychotherapeutic discourse needs to integrate and come to theoretical and clinical terms with the implications of the growing body of research demonstrating the validity and value of a multisystemic perspective. This article (and its companion article) presents a comprehensive, integrative, multisystemic, and empirically informed psychotherapeutic perspective to help therapists and psychotherapy trainers successfully address these challenges-Integrative Problem Centered Metaframeworks (IPCM) Therapy. This first article presents and illustrates IPCM's theoretical foundation, core concepts, and "case formulating" components. It delineates a Blueprint for the practice and teaching of 21st century psychotherapists who can meld science and art into best practice.