4.2.
Example of Micro-Marker Analysis: Segment from Session 10 with Mike
Client-Therapist Sequence(micro-marker text in bold) |
Nature of Client Micro-marker |
Therapist Intention |
|
C17.1: Well, let’s talk about Valentine’s Day. T17.1: OK! |
Presents apparent empathic exploration task |
Agrees to work on task with Mike (M) |
|
C17.2: I was out of the country, 600 miles away. I haven’t been to a flower shop or
seen a bill or seen how successful they were, but I had flowers delivered to
R. (woman M is interested in), and ran an ad in the paper, and I think I
talked to her tonight on the phone, for work-related things. T17.2: You think you talked to her. |
Offers unexpected but unclear element in narrative |
Request for clarification |
|
C18: She’s got a really cute, sexy voice, and I think that was
it on the phone, but not a word said by either of us. The other girl from my church, I haven’t
seen her so it’s hard to say what's happening with her. T18: You sent her flowers too |
Missing information in narrative |
Clarify by offering possible missing information |
|
C19: And I ran an ad in the paper, and I didn’t sign it. And it was just “Happy Valentine’s
Day.” And I had flowers
delivered to this R at work, and I had flowers delivered to D (the woman from
church). Then in the local
newspaper, I ran an ad, and used my name, because I’m sure my Ex-wife would see
it. T19: What, sort of
as a dig or something? |
Possible implicit anger |
Select emotionally-load information from narrative; clarify
anger at Ex-wife |
|
C20: Oh, yes! But I
haven’t heard anything back from any of them. There was lots of messages on the machine. And I was a
little bit paranoid, because I think this R is maybe getting back with
her husband, and I don’t want to be mixed up in that. T20: In that sort of messy situation. But this is with some
anxiety, right. So.. |
Possible emotion cues; confusing narrative; |
Emphasize emotion (anxiety); fill missing pieces in narrative;
offer C opportunity to elaborate |
|
C21: And this R, I stopped in there and gave her some business
cards, and gave her a magazine, and showed her how to advertise. There was a whole group of people in
her store, I mean it was crowded
at the time, she said should look at the book and consider advertising. That was before Valentine’s Day. T22.1: I see. So, where are you with that, I mean, you put a lot of time, energy,
money. |
Possible closure point in purely external narrative |
Close off narrative with conclusion/ point |
|
C22.2: and I’ll also get a bill. T22.2: I mean,
what, how do you feel about it? |
Ignores attempt to help him arrive at point of narrative |
Redirect M to the exploration of personal reaction to events |
|
C23: I even said to the flower shop, "This could be
a waste of all our time and my money." T23: You don’t feel hopeful, you feel...? |
Ignores feeling question in order to continues action narrative |
Tries to extract emotion from M's action narrative; probes for
feeling with fill-in question |
|
C24: No, um, at the AA retreat, I should have gone further and given
my name to that girl, phone number, address, just the idea that
she had my name and phone number on a little ticket stub and put it her coat
pocket. T24: So you’re kind of critical of yourself for not having done
more. |
Narrates ruminative internal coach/critic talk; possible task
marker |
Empathy with client process; highlight possible task marker |
|
C25: Not doing things maybe a little bit better. (T: OK) When I had the flowers delivered to R, I know I
didn’t give my name, just wrote "From an admirer.” T25: You’re kind of going over what was in your mind. |
Ruminative, self-critical quality |
Process empathy |
|
C26: And I was really tired when I was doing all this
shit. T26: I see, “I know I was so tired, Did I mess up here?, Did I
mess up there?, Could I have done it better. If I’d done it better, maybe it would have turned out
better.” All that kind of stuff. |
Exhaustion at ruminative self-questioning signals central client
process |
Empathy with of
ruminative self-questionning |
Materials designed to
accompany the book Learning Emotion-Focused Therapy: The
Process-Experiential Approach to Change from APA Books.
©2003 Robert Elliott, Jeanne Watson, Rhonda Goldman, and Leslie Greenberg
http://www.process-experiential.org/learning