Discovering markers of assimilation stages: the fear-of-losing-control marker.

One way research can discover how to do successful psychotherapy is by intensive examination of the process of psychological change as it occurs within single clients. The assimilation model describes a series of stages through which clients' problematic experiences are hypothesized to progress during successful psychotherapy. Markers of assimilation stages are recognizable types of events in psychotherapy discourse that are linked empirically and theoretically to those stages. Validated markers may be clinically useful signs of clients' progress and current therapeutic requirements, as well as useful tools for research on the assimilation model. We describe how we discovered the "fear-of-losing-control" marker, which signals the emergence of 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 exploration of problematic experiences.