ABSTRACT
Theoretical integration, as generally understood, involves combining two or more models of psychotherapy into a new and more effective model. So called meta-theoretical models aim to provide a theory of theories, an overarching model that spans many approaches to psychotherapy. Despite the challenges inherent in this task, rapprochement at this meta-theoretical level has been attempted and several such models are in existence. Inter alia, some of these are: Wilber's model (1996), which tracks the process of psychospiritual development through the life cycle; Clarkson's (1990) ®ve-relationship model, which bridges the three major traditions of psychotherapy and provides an encompassing relational framework; the seven-level model proposed by Clarkson and Lapworth (1992), which looks at seven levels of experience aimed at informing clinical choices in psychotherapy; and Evans and Gilbert's (2005) developmental relational model, which includes an overview of different dimensions of self in process. These models have in common the aspiration to create a theory of theories ± a meta model that spans different approaches to psychotherapy in an attempt to integrate or contain a multiplicity of seeming contradictions amongst competing theories. What distinguishes these meta models from eclectic approaches is their aspiration to theoretical coherence and the development of a framework that is ¯exible enough to ®t the needs of different clients and contexts.
