Discovering markers of assimilation stages: The fear-of-losing-control marker

One way research can discover how to do successful psychotherapy is by inte nsive examination ct the process of psychological change as it occurs withi n single clients. The assimilation model describes a series of stages throu gh which clients' problematic experiences are hypothesized to progress duri ng successful psychotherapy. Markers of assimilation stages are recognizabl e types of events in psychotherapy discourse that are linked empirically an d theoretically to those stages. Validated markers may be clinically useful signs of clients' progress and current therapeutic requirements. as well a s useful tools for research on the assimilation model. We describe how we d iscovered the "fear-of-losing-control" marker which signals the emergence o f unwanted thoughts, an early stage in the hypothesized sequence. Analysis of examples of the fear-of-losing-of-control marker suggests mechanisms by which client progression may be suspended between warding off and explorati on of problematic experiences. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons. Inc.