THERAPIST CONTRIBUTIONS TO PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC ASSIMILATION - AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE DRUG METAPHOR

A psychotherapist's verbal interventions may be understood as promotin g a client's eventual improvement by facilitating development change p rocesses within the client. This approach is an alternative to the tra ditional search for statistical links between aggregates of therapist interventions and global outcome measures. Our approach employs models of clients' assimilation of problematic experiences within problem do mains and therapists' implementation of theoretically specified aims. In an empirical illustration, one client's change within a particular problem domain and its links with therapist interventions were assesse d qualitatively across the course of brief psychodynamic interpersonal treatment.