Therapists’ empathic accuracy toward their clients’ emotions.

Abstract

Objective: Therapists’ empathic accuracy (EA) toward their clients’ fluctuating emotions is a crucial clinical skill that underlies many therapeutic interventions. In contrast to the subjective components of empathy, limited empirical work has addressed EA or its effect on the outcomes of psychotherapy. Here, we differentiate between the components of EA (tracking accuracy, directional discrepancy) as well as the valence of the target emotions (positive vs. negative). We also investigated the relative contribution of cognitive and emotional processes to therapists’ EA and examined the associations between EA and treatment outcomes. Method: The sample comprised 93 clients treated by 62 therapists in a university setting. Prior to each session, clients self-reported their symptoms. Following each session, clients rated their positive (PE) and negative (NE) emotions during the session and therapists rated their own emotions, as well as their assessment of their clients’ emotions. Results: Therapists accurately tracked their clients’ PE and NE and were more accurate for NE. Therapists tended to overestimate their clients’ NE and underestimate their clients’ PE. Therapists’ emotions were associated with their clients’ emotions (real similarity). Therapists’ emotions were also associated with their assessments of their clients’ emotions (assumed similarity). Therapists’ own emotions partially mediated the association between clients’ emotions and therapists’ assessments. Therapists’ inaccuracy in assessing their clients’ PE was associated with higher reported symptoms in the next session. Conclusion: These findings help provide a better understanding of the specific characteristics associated with more EA and underscore the importance of EA in facilitating clients’ emotional well-being.

Using topic models to identify clients’ functioning levels and alliance ruptures in psychotherapy.

“…Our findings are also in line with recent studies indicating that positive outcomes are associated with increased positive experiences (Atzil-Slonim et al, 2016; Atzil-Slonim et al, 2019; Stalikas et al, 2015). Whereas these previous studies relied on self-reports or coding systems to assess clients’ experiences, the current Study contributes by introducing a computerized method to identify topics discussed by clients during psychotherapy sessions.…”

Personal therapy and the personal therapist

“…On the other hand, therapists described as warm, empathic, interested, credible, confident, open, and honest received higher alliance scores. Atzil-Slonim et al (2019) claimed that therapists' empathic accuracy is important for facilitating patients' emotional wellbeing. Their study used patients' self-reports of their symptoms prior to and after each session, as well as therapists' rating of their own emotions and their assessment of the patients' emotions.…”

Therapeutic technique diversity is linked to quality of working alliance and client functioning following alliance ruptures.

“…As Marmarosh and Kivlighan suggested, therapists' perception that the alliance was low may serve as an indicator of a rupture and, thus, guide them to explore the therapist-client relationship in the hereand-now of therapy. Further support for this notion arises from previous studies which found similarity between therapists' ratings of some aspects of their own alliance (e.g., Hartmann, Joos, Orlinsky & Zeeck, 2015) or emotional experiences (e.g., Atzil-Slonim et al, 2019) and their view of their clients' perception of these aspects. Such findings lend support to the suggestion that therapists' experience of therapeutic processes may well represent how therapists think their clients experience these processes.…”