Body movement synchrony in psychotherapeutic counseling: A study using the video-based quantification method

Abstract

Body movement synchrony (i.e. rhythmic synchronization between the body movements of interacting partners) has been described by subjective impressions of skilled counselors and has been considered to reflect the depth of the client-counselor relationship. This study analyzed temporal changes in body movement synchrony through a video analysis of client-counselor dialogues in counseling sessions. Four 50-minute psychotherapeutic counseling sessions were analyzed, including two negatively evaluated sessions (low evaluation groups) and two positively evaluated sessions (high evaluation groups). In addition, two 50-minute ordinary advice sessions between two high school teachers and the clients in the high rating group were analyzed. All sessions represent role-playing. The intensity of the participants' body movement was measured using a video-based system. Temporal change of body movement synchrony was analyzed using moving correlations of the intensity between the two time series. The results revealed (1) A consistent temporal pattern among the four counseling cases, though the moving correlation coefficients were higher for the high evaluation group than the low evaluation group and (2) Different temporal patterns for the counseling and advice sessions even when the clients were the same. These results were discussed from the perspective of the quality of client-counselor relationship.