The Case of Lisa and The Assimilation Model: The Interrelatedness of Problematic Voices

This study examines Lisa, a successful case of emotion-focused therapy, using the assimilation model as a lens to view and understand her changes. The assimilation model construes problems as voices, or parts of the self, that are unwanted and kept separate from other voices in the community that constitute the self. Progress in therapy, then, is construed as increasing the assimilation or integration of problematic voices into the community. Lisa made significant progress assimilating two distinct but related voices, described as movement through the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Sequence. In the course of the analysis, the case of Lisa also informed the assimilation model by raising issues concerning the interrelatedness of problems and the dynamic nature of assimilation in the context of a multivoiced self.