Relevant episodes and events for the study of change in psychotherapy

Abstract

Interest in studying relevant events in psychotherapy has gained increasing importance, causing significant growth in theoretical and empirical conceptualizations. However, the diversity of theoretical perspectives, the multiple ways of defining, understanding and analyzing these events has often been confusing and ambiguous. The aim of this article is to provide an organizing perspective of the main approaches that identify and work with relevant events in the context of change process research. Six lines of research using relevant events or episodes are reviewed - Significant Events; Key Change Events; Change Episodes; Innovative Moments; Episodes of Rupture and Resolution, and Moments of Meeting- analyzing their definitions of relevant events or episodes, their different theoretical frameworks and conceptual models, their understanding of change and the consequent methodologies for observation and analysis. The similarities and differences of the different approaches and their contributions to the study of the psychotherapeutic process and its results are discussed.