The authors' objective was to develop a simple and reliable descriptive method for categorizing patient states during psychotherapy. The categories would be based on the degree of apparent control over emotional expressions. Methods involved scoring videotapes of psychotherapy for 5 patients with neurotic-level Axis I disorders. Three judges rated each 30-second segment as predominantly one of these four states: well modulated, overmodulated, undermodulated, or shimmering. Shimmering states combine emotional display with efforts to stifle that expression. The results showed that judges could reliably rate states by the definitions used in this study. This technique can provide a simplified and general approach to observation of degrees of defensive control of emotion of patients in psychotherapy.