Within- and between therapist variability in movement and physiological synchrony and its effects on symptom change
Corresponding Author
Jessica Uhl
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University Trier, Trier, Germany
Correspondence
Jessica Uhl, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Trier, 54296 Trier, Germany.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - original draft
Search for more papers by this authorUwe Altmann
Department of Psychology, MSB Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Contribution: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorEshkol Rafaeli
Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Contribution: Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorPatrick Bungart
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University Trier, Trier, Germany
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft
Search for more papers by this authorWolfgang Lutz
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University Trier, Trier, Germany
Contribution: Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jessica Uhl
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University Trier, Trier, Germany
Correspondence
Jessica Uhl, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Trier, 54296 Trier, Germany.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - original draft
Search for more papers by this authorUwe Altmann
Department of Psychology, MSB Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Contribution: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorEshkol Rafaeli
Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Contribution: Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorPatrick Bungart
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University Trier, Trier, Germany
Contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing - original draft
Search for more papers by this authorWolfgang Lutz
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University Trier, Trier, Germany
Contribution: Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing - review & editing
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
The predictive power of movement and electrodermal activity (EDA) synchrony has been demonstrated in various studies. Although most studies have examined each synchrony modality separately, a growing interest in the simultaneous investigation of multiple modalities has emerged. Previous research has demonstrated the importance of disentangling within and between-dyad effects, however within and between-therapist effects have yet to be investigated. The aim of the present study was to test whether movement and EDA synchrony (measured both within and between therapists) predict across-session symptom change in two types of interventions (emotion-focused vs. cognitive). The results are based on 990 session segments of 90 clients with test anxiety who were treated with a six-session treatment program by 22 therapists, treating 3–15 clients each. Movement synchrony (on the basis of motion energy analysis (MEA) values) and EDA synchrony were quantified using cross-correlations. Symptom severity was assessed before each session using the state test anxiety measure. Movement and EDA synchrony correlated negatively (−0.19, p < .001). Moreover, higher movement synchrony as well as an interaction between movement and EDA synchrony was significantly associated with symptom improvement within, but not between therapists. In addition, an interaction between EDA synchrony and cognitive (versus emotion-focused) interventions was significantly associated with symptom improvement. These results provide initial evidence that therapists' average levels of synchrony may matter less than how synchronous they are with a specific client.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
We have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data sets analyzed in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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