Integrative Analysis of Therapeutic Factors: Psychotherapy, Theology, and Sociology in Dialogue (DRAFT)

This theoretical paper develops an integrative analysis of therapeutic factors by bringing psychotherapy, theology and sociology into a shared but epistemically separated framework. The paper is the second article in the therapy/ERCS series. Article 1 (The Embodied Relational Constructivist Self-Framework (ERCS), Zenodo, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21514898) introduces the ERCS framework as a developmental model; this companion article applies the broader program to therapeutic factor integration. It asks which recurring dimensions of healing and change can be described across psychotherapeutic schools, theological traditions and sociological accounts without collapsing their different truth claims, methods or institutional roles. The analysis identifies five heuristic therapeutic dimensions: relationship, meaning-making, emotion regulation, behavioral activation and community embeddedness. It distinguishes mechanistic, functional-analogical and structural-metaphorical levels of convergence, and it treats theological constructs such as metanoia, lament, forgiveness and contemplative practice as analogues only where their clinical function can be discussed without reducing their theological meaning. (i) Theoretical inputs: common-factors and contextual psychotherapy literature, selected theological concepts of transformation, and sociological accounts of illness, stigma, role, participation and Social Prescribing; (ii) Integrative contribution: a five-dimension therapeutic profile with explicit convergence levels and disciplinary boundary conditions; (iii) Measurement and governance layer: a measurement-based-care workflow ledger, shared-decision report specification, digital/CDSS governance gate and language-model safety layer; (iv) Open bridge: empirical validation, differential treatment selection, clinical outcome claims and any automated recommendation use remain future work. This version is an advanced theoretical research draft. Major revisions are not excluded. The framework is not a validated diagnostic, prognostic, treatment-selection or referral instrument. Changes in Version 1.0 (July 2026) Initial Zenodo release of Article 2 in the therapy/ERCS series, based on the source-checked v8 manuscript. Integrative model: presents relationship, meaning-making, emotion regulation, behavioral activation and community embeddedness as heuristic therapeutic dimensions rather than validated universal mechanisms. Boundary control: separates mechanistic, functional-analogical and structural-metaphorical convergence, with explicit theological and sociological caveats. Governance: adds measurement-based-care, shared-decision, digital/CDSS and language-model safety gates before any practical application of dimensional profiles. Source check: incorporates the July 2026 claim-to-source correction of MBC/EMA, shared-decision, app-adoption and AI-support passages. DE/EN: English and German PDFs are published synchronously; the combined PDF is generated from EN plus DE.