Therapeutic change, innovative moments and the reconceptualization of the self: a dialogical account

Innovative moments (IMs) are exceptions toward the problematic self-narrative
that brought the client to therapy, which emerge in the therapeutic conversation. Dialogically,
an IM might be conceived as an expression of an alternative I-position which challenges the
dominance of problematic voices, thus having the potential to transform the self-narrative as
they are expanded and elaborated. Reconceptualization is a particular type of IM which usually
emerges in the middle of the process of a successful treatment, increasing steadily until the end.
Moreover, reconceptualization seems to be a distinctive feature of a successful psychotherapy
process, as it is almost absent in poor outcome cases. This IM has two main features: the
presence of a contrast between a previous self-narrative and a new emergent one, and the access
to the process which allowed for the transformation from the former to the last. This innovative
moment clearly involves a special I-position which Hermans has characterized as a metaposition.
We discuss four functions of this type of IM in the change process: (1) providing a
narrative structure for change; (2) bridging the past and present self-narratives; (3) facilitating
the progressive identification with the new self-narrative; and (4) allowing surpassing the
ambivalence often involved in the change process.