Maladaptive relationship patterns and therapeutic process

Abstract

This contribution is centered around the problem of how to understand why well-trained psychotherapists who do not make “technical errors” can and do fail in the therapeutic process. Studies related to the social interactive nature of psychic disturbances that can clarify the issue are revised. A 30 year-long research tradition is integrated (Krause, 1982, 1997, 1998; Steimer-Krause, 1996) and observations reveal that patients with specific psychological disorders establish specific relationship patterns in “everyday”-interactions with the majority of the partners they interact with. These patterns are mostly unconscious. Nevertheless, they can be measured through non-verbal interactive microbehaviours observed in facial expression. Our study demonstrated how unconscious non-verbal phenomena have a specifically powerful impact not only on the behaviour of the interaction partner but also on the affects that are predominant in the chronification of maladaptive patterns.

The second part of this paper emphasizes how the major curative power in the psychotherapeutic interaction is related to a form of abstinence of non-verbal unconscious affective patterns, while the failure of well-trained psychotherapists is usually linked to getting tied in these micro-momentary affective choreographies, which can be specifically described.

Research also demonstrates that implementation of relationship patterns has to be conceptualized as a dyadic process and especially that the therapist’s facial affective behaviour as opposed to that of healthy laymen, is a good predictor of therapeutic outcome or failure.

Keywords:
Psychotherapy, therapeutic process, therapeutic bond, emotion, facial expression, therapeutic outcome.