Nonverbal Synchrony in Couple Therapy Linked to Clients’ Well-Being and the Therapeutic Alliance

Nonverbal synchrony between individuals has a robust relation to the positive aspects of relationships. In psychotherapy, where talking is the cure, nonverbal synchrony has been related to a positive outcome of therapy and to a stronger therapeutic alliance between therapist and client in dyadic settings. Only a few studies have focused on nonverbal synchrony in multi-actor therapy conversations. Here, we studied the synchrony of head and body movements in couple therapy, with four participants present (spouses and two therapists). We analyzed more than 2000min of couple therapy videos from 11 couple therapy cases using Motion Energy Analysis and a Surrogate Synchrony (SUSY), a procedure used earlier in dyadic psychotherapy settings. SUSY was calculated for all six dyads per session, leading to synchrony computations for 66 different dyads. Significant synchrony occurred in all 29 analyzed sessions and between the majority of dyads. Complex models were used to determine the relations between nonverbal synchrony and the clients’ well-being and all participants’ evaluations of the therapeutic alliance. The clients’ well-being was related to body synchronies in the sessions. Differences were found between the clients’ and therapists’ alliance evaluations: the clients’ alliance evaluations were related to synchrony between both dyads of opposite gender, whereas the therapists’ alliance evaluations were related to synchrony between dyads of the same gender, but opposite to themselves. With four participants present, our study introduces a new aspect of nonverbal synchrony, since as a dyad synchronizes, the other two participants are observing it. Nonverbal synchrony seems to be as important in couple therapy as in individual psychotherapy, but the presence of multiple participants makes the patterns more complex.

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Studying Nonverbal Synchrony in Couple Therapy—Observing Implicit Posture and Movement Synchrony

Contemporary Family Therapy ◽

10.1007/s10591-020-09555-5 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Petra Nyman-Salonen ◽

Anu Tourunen ◽

Virpi-Liisa Kykyri ◽

Markku Penttonen ◽

Jukka Kaartinen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Therapeutic Alliance ◽

Couple Therapy ◽

Therapy Process ◽

Joint Effort ◽

Coding Scheme ◽

Movement Synchrony ◽

Almost All ◽

The Relationship ◽

Nonverbal Synchrony

AbstractResearch on nonverbal synchrony (movement coordination) in psychotherapy has recently attracted increased attention. Nonverbal synchrony has been shown to relate to the therapeutic alliance and outcome. However, research on nonverbal synchrony in couple therapy remains scarce. In this study, we examined the therapy process of one couple in detail and created a coding scheme to depict posture and movement synchrony. In this case study, we found that the relationship between nonverbal synchrony and the therapeutic alliance was complex. During the therapy process, the amount of nonverbal synchrony varied, as did the participants’ evaluations of the alliance. In couple therapy nonverbal synchrony could affect both the persons involved in it and the persons observing it. In one of the sessions, almost all the synchronies occurred between the female client and one of the therapists, and all except the female client evaluated the alliance to be weaker. In this case study, there were two therapists present, and the co-therapists’ synchrony was found to be important for the male client’s evaluations of the alliance. When there was more synchrony between the therapists, he evaluated the alliance to be stronger. Interestingly, the co-therapists’ synchrony seemed to peak in sessions that succeeded sessions with a weaker alliance, as if the therapists were implicitly making a joint effort to strengthen the alliance. A short episode from one session is given to illustrate the findings. Our coding scheme enables studying nonverbal synchrony (posture and movement synchrony) in couple therapy and combining the research results to other temporally precise data obtained from the sessions. More research is needed to validate the method.

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Nonverbal Synchrony and the Alliance in Psychotherapy for Major Depression: Disentangling State-Like and Trait-Like Effects

Clinical Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/2167702620985294 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 216770262098529

Author(s):

Keren Cohen ◽

Fabian T. Ramseyer ◽

Shachaf Tal ◽

Sigal Zilcha-Mano

Keyword(s):

Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Energy Analysis ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

The State ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Motion Energy ◽

Patient Reported ◽

Movement Synchrony ◽

Nonverbal Synchrony ◽

Objective Marker

Given the importance of the alliance in psychotherapy, nonverbal synchrony has been suggested as a promising automatic objective marker of its levels and development. Accumulating research presents mixed results regarding the association between alliance and nonverbal synchrony. In the current study, we propose that one of the reasons for the inconsistencies is that previous studies did not disentangle trait-like characteristics from state-like changes occurring throughout treatment. To test this, we had 86 patients enrolled in an ongoing randomized controlled trial, along with their therapists, report their alliance levels after every session. Nonverbal movement synchrony was quantified by motion energy analysis for each of the 16 sessions of treatment. Findings suggest a significant association between nonverbal synchrony and the state-like effect of patient-reported alliance ( p < .0001) but not for the trait-like effect. The results confirm the importance of disentangling the state-like and trait-like components because they may have distinct effects.

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Couple Drama Therapy

International Journal of Psychotherapy, Counselling and Psychiatry: Theory Research & Clinical Practice ◽

10.35996/1234/3/dramatherapy ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Dr. Edward Chan

Keyword(s):

Couple Therapy ◽

Positive Outcome ◽

Drama Therapy ◽

Outcome Studies ◽

Individual Psychotherapy ◽

Developmental Needs ◽

New Model ◽

Transference And Countertransference ◽

Emotionally Focused ◽

Therapy Model

The only couple therapy model that has published positive outcome studies is Emotionally Focused Therapy (Johnson SM & Talitman E, 1997); (Johnson SM, Williams-Keeler L, 1998). This paper review the merits and limitations of some popular couple therapy models including most that do not have any published outcome studies and formulate a new model of couple and individual psychotherapy that integrates the merits of a number of the models without their limitations. The model although is primarily that of couple therapy is also of individual psychotherapy because it takes the view that all individuals live in the context of a relationship and are relational being (Siegel, 2010). Specifically the transference and countertransference of developmental materials components of the Imago therapy model (Hendrix, H., 1996) together with the dysfunctional developmental schemas (Couple Schema Therapy; Simeone-Difrancesco, C., Roediger, E., & Stevens, B. A., 2015) that bring couples together is dramatized by couples facilitated safely by the therapist in the new model of Couple Drama Therapy. In doing so it is shown that couples attain insight quickly (within just 1 or 2 sessions) of each other’s developmental needs and are motivated to meet these needs thereby transforming and healing the dysfunctional schemas into healthy adults schemas.

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Video-based tracking approach for nonverbal synchrony: A comparison of Motion Energy Analysis and OpenPose

Behavior Research Methods ◽

10.3758/s13428-021-01612-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

K. Fujiwara ◽

K. Yokomitsu

Keyword(s):

Energy Analysis ◽

Motion Energy ◽

Nonverbal Synchrony

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Depression Severity Is Related to Less Gross Body Movement: A Motion Energy Analysis

Psychopathology ◽

10.1159/000512959 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-7

Author(s):

Anna Sandmeir ◽

Désirée Schoenherr ◽

Uwe Altmann ◽

Christoph Nikendei ◽

Henning Schauenburg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Disorder ◽

Energy Analysis ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Body Movement ◽

Psychomotor Retardation ◽

Diagnostic Interview ◽

Depression Severity ◽

Depressed Patients ◽

Motion Energy ◽

Objectively Measured

Psychomotor retardation is a well-known clinical phenomenon in depressed patients that can be measured in various ways. This study aimed to investigate objectively measured gross body movement (GBM) during a semi-structured clinical interview in patients with a depressive disorder and its relation with depression severity. A total of 41 patients with a diagnosis of depressive disorder were assessed both with a clinician-rated interview (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) and a self-rating questionnaire (Beck Depression Inventory-II) for depression severity. Motion energy analysis (MEA) was applied on videos of additional semi-structured clinical interviews. We considered (partial) correlations between patients’ GBM and depression scales. There was a significant, moderate negative correlation between both measures for depression severity (total scores) and GBM during the diagnostic interview. However, there was no significant correlation between the respective items assessing motor symptoms in the clinician-rated and the patient-rated depression severity scale and GBM. Findings imply that neither clinician ratings nor self-ratings of psychomotor symptoms in depressed patients are correlated with objectively measured GBM. MEA thus offers a unique insight into the embodied symptoms of depression that are not available via patients’ self-ratings or clinician ratings.

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Couple Therapy for Partner Aggression: Effects on Individual and Relational Well-Being

Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy ◽

10.1080/15332691.2014.966879 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 95-115 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Sherylls Valladares Kahn ◽

Norman B. Epstein ◽

Dennis M. Kivlighan

Keyword(s):

Couple Therapy ◽

Well Being ◽

Partner Aggression

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“There’s Always Winners and Losers”: Traditional Masculinity, Resource Dependence, and Post-Disaster Environmental Complacency

10.31235/osf.io/hy9wt ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Travis Milnes ◽

Timothy Haney

Keyword(s):

Resource Dependence ◽

Oil Spills ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Global Environmental Change ◽

Environmental Sociology ◽

Well Being ◽

Positive Outcome ◽

Tar Sands ◽

Technological Disasters ◽

Traditional Masculinity

The 2013 Southern Alberta flood was a costly and devastating event. The literature suggests that such disasters have the potential to spur greater environmentalism and environmental action, as residents make connections between global environmental change and local events. However, the literature also suggests that residents in communities dependent on fossil fuel extraction might see technological disasters, like oil spills, as threats to their economic well-being, thereby limiting environmental reflexivity. Given that Alberta is home of the tar sands, how might a flood disaster affect men’s environmental views, given both traditional notions of masculinity and men’s economic dependence on oil production? Using a survey of 407 flood-affected residents of Calgary and in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 men directly impacted by the flood, this article demonstrates men’s decreased tendency to change their environmental views after the flood. The qualitative data reveal that men justify this reluctance by shifting blame for climate change to the Global South, by arguing for the economic centrality of the tar sands for Alberta, and by discussing how a warming climate will largely be a positive outcome for Alberta. The article concludes with discussion of relevance for environmental sociology and for public policy.

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Fourier motion energy analysis in macaque MT

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/3.9.200 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 3 (9) ◽

pp. 200-200

Author(s):

B. Krekelberg ◽

K. Dobkins ◽

T. D Albright

Keyword(s):

Energy Analysis ◽

Motion Energy

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Psychotherapy with couples

New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry ◽

10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0173 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 1369-1380

Author(s):

Michael Crowe

Keyword(s):

Couple Therapy ◽

Controlled Trials ◽

Individual Psychotherapy ◽

Simple Relationship ◽

Presenting Problems ◽

Self Help ◽

Treatment Of Depression ◽

Proven Efficacy ◽

Psychiatric Conditions ◽

Anxiety Depression

The field of couple therapy is a wide and varied one, and there are almost as many different approaches to treatment as in individual psychotherapy. The relatively brief therapeutic method presented here, behavioural systems couple therapy, is an eclectic one, taking techniques from two approaches of proven efficacy and combining them into a flexible and versatile therapy capable of being used in a wide variety of presenting problems. These include simple relationship problems, psychosexual problems, and such psychiatric conditions as anxiety, depression, and morbid jealousy. It is relatively easy to teach, and although it has not yet been subjected to controlled trials it can be assumed to be no less effective than its component therapies which are both effective. It has recently also been recommended in a package for self-help with homework exercises and theoretical explanations to be used without the intervention of a therapist. There are few contraindications for the therapy, and it can be used both as a therapy in its own right or as an adjunctive therapy in, for example, the treatment of depression, psychosis or sexual dysfunctions. It can thus be a useful addition to the various methods available for the reduction of distress, whether in couples or individuals.

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