This study uses sentiment analysis to examine changes in authorial stance over time in the flagship journal of rehabilitation counseling. The corpus linguistic analysis found overall positive sentiment, with higher happiness scores in 2021-2022 compared to 2019-2020. Other emotions remained constant. Implications and recommendations are discussed.

This pilot study demonstrates language style matching (LSM) as an evaluation tool when examining counseling session discourse transcripts. LSM explores the language style of individuals and whether there is coordination in a dyadic conversation. This study examined the differences between suicidal discourse and general discourse. We employed a cross-sectional corpus linguistic analysis of transcripts of counseling sessions. The corpora were analyzed using the LSM methodology embedded in the Linguistic Inquiry and the Word Count software (LIWC-22). The results showed that LSM between clients and counselors within suicide discourse sessions was not statistically significantly different from those with general counseling content. Additionally, stylistic words did not vary between the two respective groups of dyads. The LSM can be an assessment tool in analyzing transcripts to determine the level of empathy and the therapeutic alliance. Additional basic counseling skills are transferable across different counseling topics.

This study was designed to examine the therapeutic alliance and specific rupture types that counselors experience in a counseling session by employing a cross sectional analysis of a linguistic corpus created from transcriptions of mock counseling sessions. A corpus linguistic program called #Lancsbox 6.0 was used to analyze the collocates of the top words found in therapeutic rupture types. Results of this study show that the word “just,” which was often used as part of a less direct filler expression, was the most frequent word in the confrontation rupture corpus as well as a top five word in the withdrawal and mixed rupture corpuses. Regarding the withdrawal rupture corpus, the node word “know,” a cognitive-oriented token that could create emotional distance, had four high intensity words (collocates), two of which (“I” and “you”) were shared with a confrontation type corpus. Regarding the mixed rupture corpus, the most common word “like” was often used as a preposition and was implicated in low empathy encounters and did not appear as a collocation in the confrontation or withdrawal rupture collocation analysis. Implications for both counseling and research are discussed.

This study was designed to further understand rupture events that counselors encounter during a counseling session that ultimately impact the quality of the therapeutic alliance. We employed a cross-sectional analysis of a linguistic corpus created from mock counseling transcripts embedded in a website administered by a peer-reviewed expert in the psychology field and three video recorded sessions of Carl Rodgers, Fritz Pearls, and Albert Ellis. The content of the corpuses was analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software. The results showed a significant difference between she/he words, or third-person singular pronouns, and certainty words when comparing withdrawal and mixed rupture corpuses with a confrontation rupture corpus. In addition, we found a significant differences between positive emotion words and discrepancy words when comparing a rupture-infused psychotherapy corpus to a general psychotherapy corpus. Several implications for counseling and research are provided in response to these findings. Keywords: corpus linguistics, therapeutic alliance, alliance rupture, rupture event, LIWC