Volume 21, Issue 3
Verbal emotional expression during Change Episodes: Analysis of communicative patterns used by patients and therapists to work emotional contents
Abstract
Three successive studies were carried out in order to identify the main characteristics of the therapeutic dialogue during the work with emotional contents within Change Episodes. Method: the Therapeutic Activity Coding System (TACS- 1.0, Valdés, Tomicic, Pérez, & Krause, 2010) was used to analyze 38 Change Episodes and 19 Stuck Episodes which were identified within two psychodynamic psychotherapeutic processes. Results show the presence of three main Communicative Patterns (CP) used to work emotional contents: Affective Exploration, Affective Attunement and Affective Resignification. These findings suggest that those patterns vary depending on the type of episode and the subject who performs the verbalization. In addition, Communicative Coordination Microsequences were observed between patients and therapists and associated with Change Episodes.
Keywords
change episodes; communicative patterns, verbal emotional expressions, communicative coordination microsequences