Coincidence of connecting emotional tone with abstraction and the psychotherapeutic outcome

Abstract

The current study aimed to test the statement that "patients who do not succeed in connecting their emotions with cognition during therapy are unlikely to improve". Two processes of brief psychodynamic psychotherapies, one successful the other not, were analyzed in accordance with the Therapeutic Cycles Model. The Therapeutic Cycles Model is a computer-assisted text analysis method that permits the identification of emotion-abstraction patterns in narratives by interlocutors. Four patterns are identified: Relaxing, Experiencing, Reflecting and Connecting. Clinically significant moments are mostly associated with Connecting. It was hypothesized that a successful process would differ from an unsuccessful one, having a higher proportion of Connecting. As far as Reflecting, Experiencing and Relaxing are concerned, no differences were expected. Results pointed to a higher proportion of Connecting and Relaxing in the successful process and no difference in respect of Experiencing and Reflecting. Considerations about the magnitude of change, emotion and abstraction valence and the sequence of patterns, suggest further analysis.

Empirical evidence; Emotion-abstraction patterns; Research on psychotherapeutic process