Verbal Response Modes and Psychotherapeutic Technique

Abstract

This paper presents a taxonomy of verbal response modes and applies that taxonomy to the verbal behavior of psychotherapists of three contrasting schools: client-centered, gestalt, and psychoanalytic. The taxonomy consists of a theoretically based set of classificatory principles that define a mutually exclusive and exhaustive set of modes. Its purpose is to describe dyadic verbal interaction comprehensively and quantitatively. Such description is a necessary first step in investigating the therapeutic effectiveness of different interaction styles.

Personality as Relational Resource in Persuasion Settings

“…The advantage of deploying this strategy is that it requires less mental resource (Nelson & Groman, 1975) and it keeps afloat the conversation. This relational strategy has been shown in previous studies to correspond to the way in which psychoanalysts interact with their patients (Stiles, 1979). Yet, the author is far from claiming psychoanalysis (or psychoanalysts) and neuroticism is causally related.…”

“…In other words, the types of codes that are recorded during a conversational exchange reflect the nature of the interaction or interpersonal relationship between the interlocutors. According to Stiles (1979), the codes reveal the psychological principles that are exhibited by the interlocutors and also serve to numerically index their relationship.…”

“…The subsequent sections will introduce a system that codes conversation utterances in accordance with speech act theory. This study adopts the speech act taxonomy that was devised by Stiles (1979Stiles ( , 1992, which is called the verbal response mode (VRM). The VRM "draws on a conceptualization of verbal communication in which people are seen as centers of experience and speech acts are seen as links between them" (1992, p. 66).…”

Construyendo puentes: Diálogo entre un clínico y un investigador

“…Los terapeutas psicoanalistas están interesados en la experiencia del paciente, usando mayoritariamente intenciones de Interpretación, Señala-miento, Preguntar y Reflejos (Stiles, 1979).…”

Therapist Interventions in the Interpersonal and Cognitive Therapy Sessions of the Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program

“…Multiple investigations have focused on providing detailed accounts of therapist response modes in specific manual-guided (13,14) and nonmanual-guided treatments (15)(16)(17). However, few studies have compared different manual-guided psychotherapies.…”