RDIAP
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Relational Dynamics and Interaction in Adolescent Psychotherapy: Part 2, Analysis of Patient-Therapist Interaction.
IRAS ID
210669
Contact name
Robin Wooffitt
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of York
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
ES/J500215/1, The ESRC grant of which our collaborative award forms part is:
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
It is widely recognised that the relationship between the patient and therapist in the therapeutic encounter may be as significant to the success of the therapy as the interpretive strategies employed by the therapist. The relationship is primarily a verbal one; the therapist has to listen to what the patient says, and discern deeper underlying psychodynamic tensions and identify how the patient's interpersonal difficulties or psychological anxieties arising from these tensions, can be understood and addressed. Consequently, the method of conversation analysis - the study of the social organization of talk-in-interaction - has been used to provide a technical description of the interactional frameworks via which psychotherapeutic treatments are implemented. There is increasing recognition, however, that the relationship between therapist and patient has non-verbal components: therapists report physical reactions, embodied affect and unusual psychological experiences. These non-verbal components may be used by the therapist to develop a deeper empathic understanding of the patient, and drawn upon to inform the therapist's strategy at that moment, and in subsequent sessions. This project examines the connection between patient - therapist talk and these non verbal or somatic experiences. Drawing on the qualitative method of conversation analysis, the analysis will examine 16 psychotherapy sessions with an adolescent patient that will be video recorded. In addition, the therapist will be interviewed to gain further understanding of their embodied experience.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SC/0063
Date of REC Opinion
6 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion