Assessment of Assimilation in Psychotherapy: A Quantitative Case Study of Problematic Experiences With a Significant Other

The development of a methodology for the evaluation of the assimilation model in which both experimental rigor and clinical sensitivity are priorities is described. The methodology was applied to a good-outcome case. The 3-phase methodology comprised (a) the identification of a problematic content domain, (b) the definition of a problematic experience within that domain, and (c) the rating of the experience's changing level of assimilation across randomly ordered passages from selected sessions. Independent sets of raters carried out the tasks of each phase. Results supported the assimilation model's hypothesized progression by which a problematic experience is successfully incorporated into a schema, and the ratings highlighted 1 session in which much of the clinical progress on 1 problem was achieved.