Applying a prospective approach to the working-through phase of psychotherapy

During the working-through phase of psychotherapy, the core of the patient's conflict is revealed and subjected to analysis. Although the working-through has been the subject of much scholarship, little has been written about identifying its onset and termination. This paper introduces a developmental strategy—previewing—derived from the interactional patterns between caregiver and infant. Previewing involves the caregiver's ability to represent, predict and rehearse future maturational changes affecting the infant. Previewing techniques may be applied analogously to the treatment of adult patients to better diagnose the presence of conflict and to facilitate the working-through of conflict.