The Innovative Moments Coding System and the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Scale: A case study comparing two methods to track change in psychotherapy

Abstract

The Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Scale (APES) and the Innovative Moments Coding System were applied to transcripts of a successful case of linguistic therapy of evaluation independently by different research groups. Assimilation theory and research suggest that higher APES scores reflect therapeutic gains, with a level of approximately 4.0 separating good from poor outcome cases. The innovative moments (IMs) model suggests that IMs classified as reconceptualization and performing change occur mainly in good outcome cases, whereas action, reflection and protest occur in both good and poor outcome cases. Passages coded as reconceptualization and performing change were rare in this case, but 100% of them were rated at or above APES 4. By contrast, 63% passages coded as action, reflection or protest were rated below APES 4 (Chi-square = 28.62, p < .001). Implications for research are discussed.

Reconceptualization innovative moments as a predictor of symptomatology improvement in treatment for depression

“…New meanings in which people reconceptualize their experience are also probably similar to other concepts in other models as new accounts of the experience (Angus et al, ; Boritz, Bryntwick, Angus, Greenberg, & Constantino, ) or as meaning bridges in the assimilation of the problematic experience (Stiles, ). In fact, high‐level assimilation of the problematic experience stages (Stage 4 or higher) have been associated with Level 2 IMs (Gonçalves et al, ). More specifically, these results are congruent with previous findings on narrative identity (i.e., the story of the self that provides a person with purpose and unity) and its impact on mental health and psychological well‐being (Adler, ; Adler, Harmeling, & Walder‐Biesanz, ; Bauer, McAdams, & Pals, ; Lilgendahl & McAdams, ; McAdams & McLean, ).…”

Constructions of Nonagency in the Clients’ Initial Problem Formulations at the Outset of Psychotherapy

“…Psychotherapy change process models, such as the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Sequence (Stiles 2001;Stiles et al 2006) and the Innovative Moments Coding System (Gonçalves et al 2010(Gonçalves et al , 2011, attempt to describe how change occurs in the ways clients relate to their problematic experiences. Both models, using different terminology, display clients as entering therapy in a situation that is somehow restricted, depicting the client as suffering from lack of diversity and flexibility in his/her options for thinking, experiencing, and acting (Gonçalves et al 2014).…”

“…Gonçalves et al 2010) or bound by a silenced problematic experience (Honos-Webb and Stiles 1998). The models construct the therapy process as establishing contact with and communication among different experiences, taking distance from the problem and formulating it more clearly, looking at it from a metaperspective, and finally, consolidating these reconceptualizations in a larger context (Barbosa et al 2018;Gonçalves et al 2014). These descriptions of the client's stance at the outset of therapy resonate with the notion of the client's so-called object position, in which the client feels beleaguered by the problem or acted upon by it (Leiman 2012;Todd 2014).…”

“…The Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Sequence and the Innovative Moments Coding System imply that there is mostly no reflectivity in a client's stance at the outset of therapy (Gonçalves et al 2014;Stiles 2001), in line with the notion of an object position which implies that the client cannot look at the problem from a reflective position (Leiman 2012). In this study, however, reflective tools were used to construct positions in many problem formulations in several categories, starting from Formulation Category 2 (circumstance).…”

Self-narrative reconstruction in emotion-focused therapy: A preliminary task analysis

“…Given that the APES and the IMCS have previously been considered complementary measures of the change process by their main proponents-Gonçalves and Stiles (see Gonçalves et al, 2014)we suggest that the APES can be used as a tool to differentiate reconceptualization IMs, distinguishing them in terms of their productivity.…”