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BACKGROUND: The therapeutic relationship is often acknowledged as one of the most significant factors in clinical process that influences client outcomes. OBJECTIVE: While considerable research has been conducted on the therapeutic relationship in psychotherapy, there is a paucity of research on the impact of the therapeutic relationship in vocational rehabilitation counseling settings. METHODS: This study explored the relationship between areas of client functioning (individual, interpersonal, social, and overall) and the therapeutic alliance among clients who receive services from the State vocational rehabilitation agency. RESULTS: In this study, younger clients (ages between 16 to 29) reported stronger therapeutic alliance. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggested that clients’ perceived individual, interpersonal and overall functioning have a significant positive relationship with the task and bond components of therapeutic relationship.

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to describe an approach to dynamical systems (DS) using a set of differential equations, and how an application of these equations can be used to address a critical element of the therapeutic relationship. Using APA's Three Approaches to Psychotherapy with a Female Client: The Next Generation and Three Approaches to Psychotherapy with a Male Client: The Next Generation videos, DS models were created for each of the six sessions with expert clinicians (Judith Beck, Leslie Greenberg, and Nancy McWilliams) from the three theoretical approaches. Method: A second-by-second observational coding system of the emotional exchanges of the therapists and clients was used as the data for the equations. Results: DS modeling allowed for a side-by-side comparison between the three approaches as well as between the two clients. Examining the graphs created by plotting the results of the DS equations (in particular, phase-space portraits) revealed that there were similarities among the three theoretical approaches, and there were notable differences between the two clients. Conclusions: DS modelling can provide researchers and clinicians with a powerful tool to investigate the complex phenomenon that is psychotherapy.

The present study was designed to revise a previous measure of the “Negative Comparisons for Alternative Relationships” Scale originally developed by Rusbult and her colleagues. Rusbult’s research ...

Although emotion has long been considered important to psychotherapeutic process, empirical assessment of its impact has emerged only recently. The present study applied two meta-analyses to explore the association between therapist expression of emotion and psychotherapy outcome, and client expression of emotion and psychotherapy outcome. Overall, 66 studies (13 for the therapist meta-analysis and 43 for the client meta-analysis) were included. A significant medium effect size was found between the therapist's emotional expression and outcomes (d = 0.56) and a significant medium-to-large effect size between the client's emotional expression and outcomes (d = 0.85). Third-party rating of emotional expression emerged as a significant moderator of outcomes. Limitations of the research, diversity considerations, and therapeutic practices that conclude the article are then presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

This study used an observational research method to examine affective counselor–client exchanges during the initial session of counseling for clients who dropped out of counseling and clients who remained in counseling. Results confirmed significant differences in the affect codes of clients and counselors between the 2 groups. Discriminant function analyses classified 77% of counselors and clients in the correct groups and correctly classified over 94% of clients who returned for 4 or more sessions.

Although emotion has long been considered important to psychotherapeutic process, empirical assessment of its impact has emerged only recently. This chapter reports two meta-analyses on the association between therapist expression of emotion and psychotherapy outcome and client expression of emotion and psychotherapy outcome. A significant medium effect size was found between impact of therapist emotional expression and outcomes (d = 0.56, 13 studies) and a significant medium-to-large effect size client emotional expression and outcomes (d = 0.85, 43 studies). Third-party rating of emotional expression emerged as a significant moderator of outcomes. Limitations of the research, diversity considerations, and therapeutic practices conclude the chapter.

Adults with mild autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face challenges in romantic relationships. Healthy romantic relationships yield physical and mental health benefits important to improved quality of ...

We are witnessing a revolution in body area sensing, with applications ranging from biometric-based security to personalized healthcare to sports performance training, among numerous others. The key application driver has been the emergence of wireless and/or contact-free technology for sensing human physiology, motion, and posture. We posit an analogous revolution enabled by advancements in sensing of human emotion. The applications are similarly diverse, spanning social skills education, business intelligence, monitoring of doctor-patient dynamics, and numerous others. This paper explores the sensing foundations necessary to achieve reliable detection and classification of human emotions. The approach combines sensing of speech characteristics, natural language processing, facial landmark monitoring, and machine learning.

Approximately 58 million people, or one in four adults in the United States, suffer with a diagnosable mental illness. Forty (40) million people are diagnosed with anxiety disorder, and approximately 14 million people are diagnosed with major depression. Psychotherapy has been shown to be effective for treating a wide array of mental illnesses. However, only 25% of individuals who have a diagnosable mental illness will come to therapy; and of those, approximately half will drop out after the first session. There is substantial published evidence that the success of therapy does not strongly depend on the type of therapy but depends instead on the human relationship between the therapist and client. Observational approaches that investigate the emotional expressions in the therapeutic relationship have not been systematically applied before. The current chapter details how an affect-based coding system (the Specific Affect Coding System, SPAFF), originally developed for couples, can be applied to counselors and clients in a therapy setting to determine the quality of the therapeutic relationship. Case studies of video recordings describing the application of this approach are included.

For over 45 years, Gottman, Levenson, and their associates have been utilizing observational methods and longitudinal studies to determine the factors that make up successful romantic relationships between two partners (REFS). While the early efforts of this endeavor relied on time series and other standard methods of statistical analyses, it was the application of dynamical systems mathematical modeling that transformed the work into a powerfully predictive model of relationship success or failure, which spurred the creation of a new method of couples counseling that had an empirical base at its core. In this chapter, we wish to present an overview of Gottman’s original dynamical systems modeling work, address some of the criticisms of those models, and discuss several new areas of mathematical modeling that are being employed to uncover additional dynamical elements of relationships.

In this chapter, we present an extension of the mathematical model of the therapeutic relationship developed by Liebovitch and Peluso by investigating relationship ruptures. We present a simulation work that models a repair to relationship ruptures and investigates its potential impact on the success of the therapy. This new model suggests that an intervention of the therapist to repair the relationship with client is an effective way of preventing the client from falling into negative affective states that the therapist considers detrimental to the therapy process.