In the current discussion on optimizing psychotherapeutic approaches, two important developments have to be considered: a tendency towards integrative and a tendency towards disorder specific approaches. For the years 2005 and 2006, an analysis of three German journals (covering the fields of psychosomatics, psychiatry and clinical psychology) was conducted on the question whether these two developments can be identified in current empirical and conceptual publications. Contrary to the expectations, there are only very few papers dealing with integrative approaches. As expected, there is a major emphasis on psychodynamic and cognitive behavioural approaches; other approaches are only marginally considered. A disorder specific approach can be identified not only for cognitive behavioural, but also for psychodynamic papers.
