Embodiment in psychotherapeutic communication

Abstract

Background: A trend towards recognition of the role of the body in cognitive processes (embodiment) can be observed in the current discussion in psychology, social sciences and humanities. Objective: The implications of the embodiment approach are presented and extended to social and therapeutic interactions. Which conclusions must be drawn for an understanding of common factors of psychotherapy? Material and methods: Against the background of embodiment a theoretical analysis of the core common factor of psychotherapy, the therapeutic alliance, was carried out and a literature review was compiled. Results: The therapeutic alliance can be operationalized as a form of coordination and synchrony. Current psychotherapy process research has already found ample evidence for the significant occurrence of synchrony in the client-therapist relationship. Additionally, synchrony was also shown to be associated with estimations of relationship quality and therapy success. Nonverbal synchrony is demonstrated in variables of the “body language” of motor activity, in sympathetic and parasympathetic physiological activation, and increasingly also in central nervous processes by so-called hyperscanning. The various levels and time scales of such synchrony are summarized in the InSync model. Conclusion: The data acquisition necessary for detecting synchrony in psychotherapy has become increasingly accessible due to technoligical and methodological developments and can be implemented in naturalistic studies. The large number of algorithms and validity concerns are still limitations. Extension of the methodology to multivariate time series is suggested.