Resonating minds: A school-independent theoretical conception and its empirical application to psychotherapeutic processes

Abstract

The resonating minds theory will be introduced as a means to describe psychotherapeutic processes and change. It builds on the mind-brain interface with psychotherapeutic interventions causing change in the brain, an altered brain causes changes in the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral regulation, and this again will change the types of subsequent therapeutic interventions. For the empirical assessment of this theory the therapeutic cycles model will be used. It is based on computer assisted analysis of verbatim transcripts using emotional tone, abstraction and narrative style as language measures. Sample applications and studies are shortly presented in order to provide evidence for the applicability and face validity of this approach.

Favouring emotional processing in improvisational music therapy through resonance frequency breathing: a single-case experimental study with a healthy client

“…Verbal interactions were analysed with the help of the CM software (version 4.3), a computer-based text analysis tool developed by Mergenthaler (1996Mergenthaler ( , 2008. This automated tool was designed to identify emotion-abstraction patterns in session transcripts, in accordance with the Therapy Cycle Model (TCM; see Mergenthaler, 1996).…”

Emotion-Abstraction Patterns and Cognitive Interventions in a Single Case of Standard Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

“…The ideal sequence of a good therapeutic cycle includes relaxing, experiencing, connecting, reflecting, and relaxing again. In this sequence, a problematic situation is narratively recounted, critically examined, and emotionally appraised in a way that allows the connection of everything, leading to both emotional and cognitive insights (Mergenthaler, 1985;1996;2008). These cycles represent a particular kind of emotional and cognitive sequence, during which it is reasonable to suppose that much of the preparatory work carried out at other times during the therapy come to fruition (Ribeiro, Ribeiro, Goncalves, Horvath, & Stiles, 2012).…”

“…The sequence of these four EAPs is called a "therapeutic cycle," and its prevalence in therapy has been found to be positively associated with positive clinical outcomes in treatments of different orientations (Mergenthaler, 1996;2008). The ideal sequence of a good therapeutic cycle includes relaxing, experiencing, connecting, reflecting, and relaxing again.…”

“…A process model that could satisfy these requirements is the therapeutic cycle model (TCM; Mergenthaler, 1985;1996;2008), which is both a general model of therapeutic change and an operational method for conducting standardized exploration of the processes of change occurring either over the course of psychotherapy or at an individual session. The TCM identifies key moments in the psychotherapeutic process that may be measured in terms of level of emotional activation and/or abstract cognitive reflection (Benelli et al, 2012;Mergenthaler, 1996).…”

“…According to the theory underpinning this model, a clinically significant moment is characterized by the simultaneous presence of high emotional activation and intense abstract thinking. In other words, key therapeutic change takes place when the patient processes his or her psychological problems in both cognitive and emotional terms, respectively called abstraction (AB) and emotional tone (ET) (Mergenthaler, 1985;1996;2008). The possible combinations of these two factors yield four emotion-abstraction patterns (EAP), as follows: relaxing (low ET and low AB), in which patients talk about material that is not manifestly connected to their central symptoms or issues; reflecting (low ET and high AB), in which patients speak using a high degree of abstraction and without intervening emotions; experiencing (high ET and low AB), in which patients find themselves in a state of emotional arousal; and connecting (high ET and high AB), in which patients find emotional access to problematic states and explore them from both an emotional and rational viewpoint.…”