Dialogical Sequence Analysis and the Zone of Proximal Development as Conceptual Enhancements to the Assimilation Model: The Case of Jan Revisited

Abstract

The assimilation model has proposed a set of developmental stages through which a client's problematic experiences pass in successful psychotherapy. We present 2 conceptual additions to the model. First, we examine the client's problematic experiences using dialogical sequence analysis, an intensive method for studying the moment-to-moment process. Second, we extend the developmental stages to describe the intersubjective exchange between client and therapist by introducing Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development. We illustrate the application of the new conceptual tools by presenting 3 excerpts from the 1st session with Jan, a 42-year-old woman whose therapy has been studied previously. Our analysis suggested that, during the 1st session, Jan's problems reached higher developmental stages in the joint exchange with her therapist (i.e., in the zone of proximal development) than in her internal assimilation.