Inter-Brain Synchronization During Sandplay Therapy: Individual Analyses

Interactions between the client (Cl) and therapist (Th) evolve therapeutic relationships in psychotherapy. An interpersonal link or therapeutic space is implicitly developed, wherein certain important elements are expressed and shared. However, neural basis of psychotherapy, especially of non-verbal modalities, have scarcely been explored. Therefore, we examined the neural backgrounds of such therapeutic alliances during sandplay, a powerful art/play therapy technique. Real-time and simultaneous measurement of hemodynamics was conducted in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of Cl-Th pairs participating in sandplay and subsequent interview sessions through multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy. As sandplay is highly individualized, and no two sessions and products (sandtrays) are the same, we expected variation in interactive patterns in the Cl–Th pairs. Nevertheless, we observed a statistically significant correlation between the spatio-temporal patterns in signals produced by the homologous regions of the brains. During the sandplay condition, significant correlations were obtained in the lateral PFC and frontopolar (FP) regions in the real Cl-Th pairs. Furthermore, a significant correlation was observed in the FP region for the interview condition. The correlations found in our study were explained as a “remote” synchronization (i.e., unconnected peripheral oscillators synchronizing through a hub maintaining free desynchronized dynamics) between two subjects in a pair, possibly representing the neural foundation of empathy, which arises commonly in sandplay therapy (ST).

Rapport building and witness memory: Actions may ‘speak’ louder than words

Building rapport during police interviews is argued as important for improving on the completeness and accuracy of information provided by witnesses and victims. However, little experimental research has clearly operationalised rapport and investigated the impact of rapport behaviours on episodic memory. Eighty adults watched a video of a mock crime event and 24-hours later were randomly allocated to an interview condition where verbal and/or behavioural (non-verbal) rapport techniques were manipulated. Memorial performance measures revealed significantly more correct information, without a concomitant increase in errors, was elicited when behavioural rapport was present, a superiority effect found in both the free and probed recall phase of interviews. The presence of verbal rapport was found to reduce recall accuracy in the free recall phase of interviews. Post-interview feedback revealed significant multivariate effects for the presence of behavioural (only) rapport and combined (behavioural + verbal) rapport. Participants rated their interview experience far more positively when these types of rapport were present compared to when verbal (only) rapport or no rapport was present. These findings add weight to the importance of rapport in supporting eyewitness cognition, highlighting the potential consequences of impoverished social behaviours for building rapport during dyadic interactions, suggesting ‘doing’ rather than simply ‘saying’ may be more beneficial.

Time and Alcohol Do Not Change Everything: How Intoxicated Witnesses Perceive Aggression in Intimate Partner Violence

Although alcohol-intoxicated witnesses to violent crimes are common, research on how alcohol affects witnesses’ perception of aggression is sparse. In the present study, it was investigated whether different levels of intoxication altered how severe witnesses perceived aggression displayed by involved parties in an intimate partner violence (IPV) scenario to be. An experimental mixed-groups design 3 (sober vs. moderate vs. high breath alcohol concentration [BAC]) x 2 (immediate vs. one week delayed interview) was used. Socially drinking men and women ( n = 137; 67 and 70, respectively) were randomized to an alcohol condition (0.8 g/kg adjusted to 0.75 g/kg for women, divided into two intoxication groups: moderate ≤0.08 and high ≥0.08) or a control condition (juice). They were also randomized into a direct interview condition or a delayed interview condition. In a laboratory setting, they consumed drinks and viewed an IPV scenario on film. During their interview, the participants rated how severe they perceived the involved parties’ aggression to be. Inter alia, participants in the high BAC group perceived both parties’ physically aggressive behavior as comparatively less severe than the sober and moderately intoxicated witnesses did. The high BAC group also perceived the IPV scenario as less unpleasant than the other two groups, and they maintained this perception over time and repeated interviews. A BAC level of ≥0.08 was required to significantly lower witnesses’ perceived severity of physical aggression, possibly caused by alcohol’s anxiety-dampening effect as well as its impairing effect on cognitive processing capacity over this level of intoxication. That alcohol intoxication at (or over) such a BAC level makes witnesses perceive physical aggression as less severe and less unpleasant, and also that such an altered perception holds over time and repeated interviews, is important for legal practitioners to be aware of when handling intoxicated witnesses to violence. Therefore, this issue warrants further investigation.

Effects of Method on Participants and Disclosure Rates in Research on Sensitive Topics

This study replicates and extends the research of Rosenbaum, Rabenhorst, Reddy, Fleming, and Howells, which also appears in this special issue. Responses from 398 randomly assigned participants regarding differentially sensitive topics were collected via four methods of data collection: written questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, and an automated telephonic data collection system (ATDC). Several significant differences in data collection methodology and topic area were found, including greater disclosure of sensitive information via the ATDC system than via face-to-face and paper-and-pencil conditions. Participants who were assigned to the ATDC condition felt significantly more comfortable answering questions compared to those in the face-to-face interview condition. Participants in the telephone interview condition reported answering significantly more carefully than participants answering via written questionnaire. Taken together, the results of this study and the previous one it replicates suggest that the ATDC produces disclosure rates that are at least equivalent to, if not greater than, those generated using traditional methods for collecting sensitive data.

Cancer by another name: a randomized trial of the effects of euphemism and uncertainty in communicating with cancer patients.

PURPOSE In this study we tested some assumptions about the use of euphemism in communicating with cancer patients. Does an explicit statement about the diagnosis of cancer cause patients to respond with greater anxiety than when uncertainty or ambiguity is allowed to persist? Do patients believe they cope better with cancer when the diagnosis is explicit? METHODS A heterogeneous sample of 165 cancer patients completed a new measure of emotional adjustment to cancer using random assignment among four testing variables: agent (self-report v interview), terminology (the words cancer v illness), identification (patient identified v anonymous), and supervision (clinic v home). Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for the 39-item set was 0.74 and face and content validity were determined using the focus-group technique and preliminary factor analysis. After answering the adjustment measures, subjects completed the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). RESULTS Overall anxiety levels were significantly lower in the sample than published norms for general medical and surgical patients. Exposure to the word cancer as distinct from illness increased anxiety, but did not alter adjustment scores. Supervision and agent conditions did not affect anxiety, but reported adjustment was poorer in the interview condition compared with the self-report condition. Ambiguous instructions, such as asking patients to complete the questionnaire anonymously but return it in person to staff in the clinic, resulted in poorer adjustment, which was reversed by the consistent instruction to complete the questionnaire anonymously at home and return it by mail. CONCLUSION Use of the word cancer generated anxiety to levels similar to those reported in general medical and surgical patients, but did not produce any distortion in reported adjustment. However, any ambiguity associated with the conditions under which adjustment is assessed may lead to distortion and an increase in the patient's reported psychologic distress.

Matching Therapists' Predicates: An in Vivo Test of Effectiveness

The theory of neurolinguistic programming predicts that a therapist's matching of a client's primary representational system, as expressed in the client's predicates, should result in increased therapist's rapport and social influence. This hypothesis was tested in an actual interview situation. Six relatively inexperienced therapists, two each in predicate matching, predicate mismatching, and predicate no-matching conditions, conducted a 30-min. interview with nine undergraduate student volunteers each, for a total of 54 subjects. After the appropriate interview condition was completed, subjects rated their therapists on the Counselor Rating Form and the Counseling Evaluation Inventory. No significant differences among the three conditions on any of the measures were found. Results are compared with those of previous research on assessment and primary representational system matching in analogue situations.