Learning from embodied tension: A naturalistic multimodal single case study of nonverbal expressions and interactions in a psychotherapy training process

This multimodal single case study explored how nonverbal communication was handled in a psychodynamic training process. Using a multimodal qualitative method, video recordings of a 39 sessions psychodynamic therapy process (with a female therapist treating a male client with relational issues), parallel supervision sessions, and Interpersonal Process Recall interviews with the client and therapist, were analyzed within the framework of Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA). The analysis yielded three themes: a) The therapist’s insecurity seemed to have compromised her capacity to use her own bodily signals to facilitate the exploration of emotions together with the client; b) The therapist and the supervisor were sensitive to the nonverbal cues from the client, but supervision did not explicitly explore how the therapist could use this sensitivity to moderate her own bodily signals and inform her clinical interventions; and c) Supervision supported the therapist in tolerating embodied tension in the therapeutic relationship. This study illustrates the close relationship between therapists’ capacity for emotion regulation and their nonverbal relational skills. A more open exploration of the trainee’s emotion regulation capacities in supervision may have supported her to deal more effectively with her own and the client’s nonverbal expressions.