Therapeutic activities after assimilation setbacks in the case of Alicia

Abstract

ABSTRACT 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.