ABSTRACT
The dialogic nature of Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) reminds us to be sensitive to all the client’s verbal and non-verbal communications and to hold in mind the social and cultural meanings inherent in these. It also gives credence to the importance of the jointly created CAT tools. The integration of the work of Vygotsky and Bakhtin into the CAT model significantly developed this understanding. The focus of Vygotsky’s research was addressing the question as to how patterns of relating are acquired; that is, how the interpersonal becomes intrapersonal and how this internalisation happens. Through this work he developed the concept of ‘signs’. An example of sign-mediation may be a child reaching for a cup with the intention to have a drink and the parent responding by moving the cup closer. In time the child learns that a reaching movement elicits a response of being given a drink.
