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Resolution of assimilation setbacks in the case of Alicia: the dance of strands

Taylor & Francis
Counselling Psychology Quarterly
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This case study addressed what therapists do after assimilation setbacks. Previous research has shown that most setbacks reflect the client switching between strands of the problem and that most setbacks can be classified as balance strategy setbacks (BS) or setbacks due to the therapist exceeding the client’s zone of proximal development (TZPD). Alicia was a 26-year-old woman diagnosed as depressed and treated with a directive kind of therapy for 26 sessions. Sessions were transcribed and rated with the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Scale (APES). Almost all setbacks could be classified as BS or TZPD. The therapist's succeeding interventions were coded with the List of Therapist’s Activities after a Setback and qualitatively described and summarized. Alicia showed improvement on the outcome measures, and the APES. Therapist activities following setbacks showed that exploratory activities and supportive and clarifying intentions seemed relatively more common after BS setbacks, whereas directive activities and intentions were relatively more common after TZPD setbacks. Results tended to support the conceptualization of setbacks as a switch of strands and suggested elaborations. In this directive therapy, the therapist tended to pursue the intended line of work after setbacks, using systematically different activities depending on which type of setback occurred.
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Background: It is estimated that between 3% and 15% of patients have a negative experience of psychotherapy, but little is understood about this. Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the factors associated with patients’ negative therapy experiences. Method: The data comprised 185 patient and 304 therapist questionnaires, 20 patient and 20 therapist interviews. Patients reported on an unhelpful or harmful experience of therapy, and therapists on a therapy where they thought the patient they were working with had a poor or harmful experience. These were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: There was a Lack of fit between Patient needs, Therapist skills, and Service structures. This could result in Fault Lines, a tension between Safety and containment and Power and control. This tension led to Strain and Poor Engagement, which led to Consequences following the negative therapy experience. Conclusions: Patients require clear information, choice, involvement in decision-making, explicit contracting and clarity about sessions and progress. Opportunities for patient feedback should be the norm, where the therapist and service are vigilant for signs of deterioration and solutions considered. Clinical and methodological significance of this article: Estimates of “unwanted effects,” including long-lasting effects, of psychotherapy have ranged from 3% to 15%. Few empirical studies have been conducted in this area. This study aimed to address this gap and provide clinicians with a model of risk factors for negative therapy effects. The findings of this study indicate the importance of providing patients with a supportive service structure that offers clear information, choice and involvement in decision-making. Explicit contracting at the beginning of therapy and clarity about sessions and progress are also important in managing patient expectations throughout. Opportunities for patient feedback should be provided.
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Progress in psychotherapy is typically irregular, as advances alternate with setbacks. This study investigated the therapist’s activities prior to two main types of setbacks, one involving the client following therapist proposals and one involving the client failing to follow from therapist proposals, in the case of a poor-outcome client treated with a linguistically-oriented kind of cognitive therapy. Setbacks were defined as decreases of at least one level on an index of therapeutic progress, the 8-level Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Scale (APES), in adjacent client passages. Therapist activities were coded in 361 setback episodes that each included a client pre-setback passage, a therapist passage, and a client setback passage; both client passages had been previously rated on the APES. The main categories of therapist activities showed distinctive patterns in relation to the two main types of setbacks, the therapeutic zone of proximal development and the balance strategy. The two main patterns were described as an exploratory and a challenging configuration. These patterns of therapist activities and setbacks showed how the therapist seemed to persevere with approach-guided interventions while this poor-outcome client continued to have setbacks to low APES levels.
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Background. The quality and strength of the therapeutic collaboration, the core of the alliance, is reliably associated with positive therapy outcomes. The urgent challenge for clinicians and researchers is constructing a conceptual framework to integrate the dialectical work that fosters collaboration, with a model of how clients make progress in therapy. Aim. We propose a conceptual account of how collaboration in therapy becomes therapeutic. In addition, we report on the construction of a coding system - the therapeutic collaboration coding system (TCCS) - designed to analyse and track on a moment-by-moment basis the interaction between therapist and client. Preliminary evidence is presented regarding the coding system's psychometric properties. The TCCS evaluates each speaking turn and assesses whether and how therapists are working within the client's therapeutic zone of proximal development, defined as the space between the client's actual therapeutic developmental level and their potential developmental level that can be reached in collaboration with the therapist. Method. We applied the TCCS to five cases: a good and a poor outcome case of narrative therapy, a good and a poor outcome case of cognitive-behavioural therapy, and a dropout case of narrative therapy. Conclusion. The TCCS offers markers that may help researchers better understand the therapeutic collaboration on a moment-to-moment basis and may help therapists better regulate the relationship. • To promote therapeutic collaboration. • To facilitate regulation of therapeutic relationship • To facilitate therapeutic change.
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The aim of this study was to provide a detailed descriptive account of the large improvement seen over a single-session interval in psychotherapy, known as "sudden gain," by applying a process model of psychotherapeutic change. Passages from sessions before and after the sudden gain of five clients receiving cognitive therapy for depression were rated for assimilation level. Results indicated that insight and understanding of the problematic experience was reached in the session before the sudden gain. Case analyses confirmed this but suggested that this insight was only partial and did not develop into full insight until the therapy session after the gain.
The linguistic therapy of evaluation: A perspective on language in psychotherapy
  • Caro Gabalda
Caro Gabalda, I. (1996). The linguistic therapy of evaluation: A perspective on language in psychotherapy. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 10(2), 83-104. doi:10.1080/10720530903400962
Therapist activities preceding setbacks in the assimilation process
  • Caro Gabalda
  • I Stiles
  • W B Ruiz
Caro Gabalda, I., Stiles, W. B., & Pérez Ruiz, S. (2016). Therapist activities preceding setbacks in the assimilation process. Psychotherapy Research, 26(6), 653-664. doi:10.1080/10503307.2016. 1140331