STRATEGIC THERAPY, ECLECTICISM, AND THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP

Although profoundly influencing the family field by highlighting the deficiencies of pathology-based views, strategic therapy has come under fire in two general areas: (a) adherence to a "black box" philosophy that discounts the value of intrapersonal phenomena; and (b) interventions that appear exceedingly instrumental, manipulative, and based on a position of therapist power. This article will examine these criticisms in light of the rise of eclecticism and the resurgence of the primacy of the therapeutic relationship. It will be argued that if strategic therapy is to remain viable, it must evolve to include the contributions of other models and consider the relationship context from which intervention arises.