Recovery is consistently associated with client storytelling that is emotionally engaged, reflective, and evidencing new story outcomes and self-narrative change. Implications for future research, practice and training are discussed.
We analyzed master theorist/therapist Hanna Levenson's six-session work with "Ann" in American Psychological Association's Theories of Psychotherapy video series to determine if and how this client had a corrective experience in Brief Dynamic Therapy. First, we identified indicators of a corrective experience in the therapist's and client's own words. Complementing this analysis, we used observational coding to identify, moment by moment, narrative-emotion markers of shifts in Ann's "same old story"; the frequency, type, and depth of immediacy; and the client's and therapist's behavioral contributions to the working alliance. Additionally, we qualitatively analyzed Levenson's session-by-session accounts of the therapy from two sources. Convergent evidence from these multi-method analyses suggested how the intertwined relational and technical change processes seemed to bring about this client's corrective experience. Through consistent attention to the alliance and increasingly deep immediacy, Levenson created a safe space for Ann to "bring down the wall"-by allowing herself to cry and be deeply understood and cared for in a way that she had never before experienced. Concurrently, Ann began seeing herself quite differently, signified by self-identity narrative change. Then, following Session 4, she took Levenson's suggestion to risk behaving more authentically with a friend and with her romantic partner.
A corrective experience (CE) is one "in which a person comes to understand or experience affectively an event or relationship in a different and unexpected way" (Castonguay & Hill, 2012, p. 5). CEs disconfirm clients' expectations based on past problematic experiences, and can be emotional, relational, behavioral, and/or cognitive. This qualitative study explored corrective shifts among recovered participants (N = 8) who had received motivational interviewing (MI) integrated with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in a randomized controlled trial comparing CBT alone to MI-CBT for generalized anxiety disorder (Westra, Constantino, & Antony, 2016). We administered a posttherapy interview querying their experience of, and explanations for, any shifts in therapy. Grounded theory analysis yielded three core themes: in command of the worry train, experiencing myself in new ways in therapy, and oriented toward change. Findings are discussed in terms of MI theory, and clinical implications for therapists are provided.
The purpose of the present study was to qualitatively investigate clients' posttherapy accounts of corrective experiences-a proposed common factor and integrative principle of therapeutic change (Castonguay & Hill, 2012)-after completion of either a brief cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or motivational interviewing (MI) integrated with CBT (MI-CBT) for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; Westra, Constantino, & Antony, 2016). Patients' Perceptions of Corrective Experiences in Individual Therapy (PPCEIT; Constantino, Angus, Friedlander, Messer, & Heatherington, 2011) semistructured interviews were completed at therapy termination with 1 MI-CBT client and 1 CBT-only client who met the criteria for recovery. The PPCEIT interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed, and subjected to a grounded theory analysis using qualitative research methods software (ATLAS.ti). Findings indicated that both clients reported positive shifts in their experience of anxiety and increased agency in interpersonal relationships. In particular, the client undergoing integrative MI-CBT treatment reported increased confidence in her own ability to maintain positive changes posttherapy, while the CBT-only client expressed confidence in her application of CBT tools and skills to maintain therapy outcomes. The MI-CBT client attributed the shifts she experienced in therapy to an increased awareness and confidence in her own agency, indicating a potential corrective experience of self, whereas the CBT-only client attributed the positive shifts she experienced to the expertise provided by the therapist. Future research directions are discussed, in addition to implications of integrative CBT approaches, for enhanced clinical outcomes.
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