The integrative focus: coordinating symptom- and person-oriented perspectives in therapy

The issue of choosing between a symptomatic and a personal emphasis in psychotherapy has always been one of the major bones of contention between adherents of different approaches in the field. As it becomes increasingly clear that none of the major schools will achieve supremacy, the drive to incorporate whatever is best in any orientation becomes more pronounced. Therapists often find that the therapeutic alliance may be damaged if they neglect either their patients' symptomatic complaints or pressing developmental tasks. The integrative focus is an attempt to coordinate these two elements in therapy so that they may enhance each other instead of competing with each other. The focus is so designed as to help unify the treatment, increase motivation for therapy, and register deeply in the patient's mind. Though only a technical aid, the integrative focus may show one of the ways by which integration does not diffuse, but rather steadies and enriches the therapeutic beam.