Elena María Ruiz-Sancho

Descriptive Study of the Socratic Method: Evidence for Verbal Shaping

In this study we analyzed 65 fragments of session recordings in which a cognitive behavioral therapist employed the Socratic method with her patients. Specialized coding instruments were used to categorize the verbal behavior of the psychologist and the patients. First the fragments were classified as more or less successful depending on the overall degree of concordance between the patients verbal behavior and the therapeutic objectives. Then the fragments were submitted to sequential analysis so as to discover regularities linking the patients verbal behavior and the therapists responses to it. Important differences between the more and the less successful fragments involved the therapists approval or disapproval of verbalizations that approximated therapeutic goals. These approvals and disapprovals were associated with increases and decreases, respectively, in the patients behavior. These results are consistent with the existence, in this particular case, of a process of shaping through which the therapist modifies the patients verbal behavior in the overall direction of his or her chosen therapeutic objectives.

Análisis de la conducta verbal del cliente durante el proceso terapéutico

Parte de este trabajo ha sido financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion en el marco del Plan Nacional de I+D+I 2004-2007 (Proyecto SEJ2007_66537_PSIC) y 2008-2011 (Proyecto PSI2010-15908)

Functional Analysis of the Verbal Interaction Between Psychologist and Client During the Therapeutic Process

The goal of this study is to analyze the verbal interaction that takes place between client and therapist over the course of a clinical intervention so as to analyze the potential learning processes that may be responsible for changes in the client’s behavior. A total of 92 sessions were analyzed, corresponding to 19 clinical cases treated by 9 therapists specializing in behavioral therapy. The variables considered were therapist and client verbal behaviors, and these were categorized according to their possible functions and/or morphologies. The Observer XT software was used as a tool for the observational analysis. The results led to the conclusion that the therapist responds differentially to client verbalizations, modifying the verbal contingencies as his or her client content approaches or becomes more distant from therapeutic objectives. These results suggest the possible existence of verbal “shaping” processes through which the therapist guides the client’s verbal behavior toward more adaptive forms. In addition, this study proposes an alternative to the traditional controversy regarding the relevance of the therapeutic relationship versus the treatment techniques used to explain clinical change. This article suggests that such differentiation is unnecessary because the therapeutic relationship and the treatment techniques should act in the same manner, this is, in providing the context for the occurrence of what is truly therapeutic, namely, the learning processes.

A theoretical and methodological proposal for the descriptive assessment of therapeutic interactions

Abstract Objective: The goal of this study is to show the development of a strategy for a descriptive assessment of the therapeutic interaction. Method: In this study, we develop an observational methodology to analyze the dialogues that took place during 92 sessions conducted in a psychological center in Madrid, Spain, in which 19 adults were treated for various psychological problems by 9 behavioral therapists. A system was developed to codify vocal behavior of both the therapists and the clients; the software The Observer XT was used for recording. Therapeutic interactions were analyzed using sequential analysis. Results: There are three main sequences that synthesize the therapist–client interaction: first, an utterance by the client preceded by a therapists verbalization, specifically a question (discriminative morphology) and followed by an expression of approval (reinforcement morphology); second, verbalizations of failure or discomfort uttered by the client, followed most often by verbalizations of disapproval (punishing morphology) uttered by the therapist; and third, verbalizations uttered by the client that are discriminated by the therapist after an in-depth explanation and followed by different therapists utterances (expressions of approval, technical information, etc.). Conclusions: Depending on how the client responds the results in this study present a starting point for the study of the functional sequences that form the basis of therapeutic change.

Analysis of the client's verbal behavior during the therapeutic process

Parte de este trabajo ha sido financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion en el marco del Plan Nacional de I+D+I 2004-2007 (Proyecto SEJ2007_66537_PSIC) y 2008-2011 (Proyecto PSI2010-15908)