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Patient-therapist Physiological Synchrony. preliminary findings from a pilot study

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Názov: Patient-therapist Physiological Synchrony. preliminary findings from a pilot study
Autori: Gioele Calmi, Ludovica Zanini
Informácie o vydavateľovi: 2025.
Rok vydania: 2025
Predmety: interpersonal synchrony, psychotherapy, physiological synchrony, therapeutic alliance
Popis: Introduction: The In-Sync model of psychotherapy posits that working alliance emerges from patient-therapist interpersonal synchrony occurring at multiple levels, favoring improved therapy outcomes. Given the scarcity of high-quality studies investigating psychophysiological synchronization in psychotherapy, this preliminary study aimed to develop and test an experimental protocol assessing physiological synchronization (in-phase and anti-phase), in terms of Heart Rate (HR) and Heart Rate Variability (HRV), occurring between patient and therapist during individual psychotherapy sessions. Methods: Five patients and one therapist were recruited in this preliminary phase of the study. HR and HRV from both dyad members were continuously measured via the Firstbeat Bodyguard 3 during five psychotherapy sessions. Before and after each session, patients and therapists completed self-report questionnaires assessing emotion regulation, therapeutic alliance, and responsiveness and attunement shown by the therapist. Pre-processing of physiological cardiac data was performed using the software Kubios, and synchrony analysis for each dyad was performed using the software SUrrogate SYnchrony (SUSY), which quantifies the size and direction of the observed synchrony through Cohen’s d. Results: Analysis of the HR values within individual dyads revealed the presence of in-phase physiological synchrony in dyads Pt01_thA (d = 0,70) and Pt02_thA (d = 0,50), showing large and medium synchronization indices, respectively. Regarding anti-phase synchrony, dyads Pt03_thA (d = -0,84) and Pt04_thA (d = -1,43) demonstrated large anti-phase synchrony. As for HRV, physiological synchrony was observed in both in-phase and anti-phase dimensions. Specifically, in-phase synchrony was found in dyad Pt05_thA (d = 1,44), while dyad Pt04_thA exhibited a high synchronization in the anti-phase dimension (d = -1,33). Conclusion: Preliminary findings from the pilot study demonstrate that the experimental protocol effectively identifies the two key dimensions of physiological synchrony: in-phase and anti-phase. In the future we will explore the potential relationship between the two dimensions of synchrony and the processes of emotion regulation, therapist responsiveness, and working alliance.
Druh dokumentu: Conference object
Jazyk: English
Prístupová URL adresa: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1747308
Prístupové číslo: edsair.od......3686..6ea78b651050604fe10e0aab8851118f
Databáza: OpenAIRE
Popis
Abstrakt:Introduction: The In-Sync model of psychotherapy posits that working alliance emerges from patient-therapist interpersonal synchrony occurring at multiple levels, favoring improved therapy outcomes. Given the scarcity of high-quality studies investigating psychophysiological synchronization in psychotherapy, this preliminary study aimed to develop and test an experimental protocol assessing physiological synchronization (in-phase and anti-phase), in terms of Heart Rate (HR) and Heart Rate Variability (HRV), occurring between patient and therapist during individual psychotherapy sessions. Methods: Five patients and one therapist were recruited in this preliminary phase of the study. HR and HRV from both dyad members were continuously measured via the Firstbeat Bodyguard 3 during five psychotherapy sessions. Before and after each session, patients and therapists completed self-report questionnaires assessing emotion regulation, therapeutic alliance, and responsiveness and attunement shown by the therapist. Pre-processing of physiological cardiac data was performed using the software Kubios, and synchrony analysis for each dyad was performed using the software SUrrogate SYnchrony (SUSY), which quantifies the size and direction of the observed synchrony through Cohen’s d. Results: Analysis of the HR values within individual dyads revealed the presence of in-phase physiological synchrony in dyads Pt01_thA (d = 0,70) and Pt02_thA (d = 0,50), showing large and medium synchronization indices, respectively. Regarding anti-phase synchrony, dyads Pt03_thA (d = -0,84) and Pt04_thA (d = -1,43) demonstrated large anti-phase synchrony. As for HRV, physiological synchrony was observed in both in-phase and anti-phase dimensions. Specifically, in-phase synchrony was found in dyad Pt05_thA (d = 1,44), while dyad Pt04_thA exhibited a high synchronization in the anti-phase dimension (d = -1,33). Conclusion: Preliminary findings from the pilot study demonstrate that the experimental protocol effectively identifies the two key dimensions of physiological synchrony: in-phase and anti-phase. In the future we will explore the potential relationship between the two dimensions of synchrony and the processes of emotion regulation, therapist responsiveness, and working alliance.