Integrating Psychodynamic, Cognitive, and Interpersonal Therapies: A Biophysical Role Theory

A biopsychosocial role theory has been developed to integrate the mam findings of psychodynamic, cognitive, and interpersonal therapies. To function in a society, you must achieve a balance between your self-expectations and your performances, and your expectations of others and their performances. These expectations of self and others fall roughly into 16 biopsychosocial areas, or life vectors Imbalance between expectations and performance creates stress. When experiencing stress, you must either modify and negotiate expectations and performances with others, or through defense mechanisms and patterns of reaction, further compound your problems. Interview schedules structured according to this theory have been used to interview patients, parents, and spouses. Social summaries allow the respondents to identify their problems and provide them with a common structure, methodology, and language to resolve their differences of opinion, restructure their roles, and achieve their personal and interpersonal goals. *This article was first presented as a paper at the 1991 annual meeting of the Sociological Practice Association, Costa Mesa, CA, 6-10 June 1991.