What does the first exchange tell? Dialogical sequence analysis and assimilation in very brief therapy

Abstract

Abstract The authors applied dialogical sequence analysis, a microanalytic method for tracing recurring maladaptive patterns, to study assimilation in the psychotherapy of a woman treated for mild depression in two weekly sessions plus a 3-month follow-up session. The very first exchange (four speaking turns each by client and therapist) enacted a pattern in which the client responded to her own potential vulnerability by adopting a controlling caretaker position. Subsequent therapeutic work delineated component positions in this pattern, which was recurrent and maladaptive, leading to an insight reached midway through the second session. From the client's reports, it appeared that she used her new understanding to assimilate her problematic controlling side, giving her greater flexibility in her relationships and greater scope for meeting her own needs for care. She seemed to progress across three of the eight developmental stages postulated by the assimilation model: problem statement–clarification, und...