Long‐term psychodynamic psychotherapy in a face‐to‐face versus videoconferencing setting: A single case study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Long‐term psychodynamic psychotherapy in a face‐to‐face versus videoconferencing setting: A single case study

AU - Andreas, Sylke

AU - Gablonski, Thorsten-Christian

AU - Tschacher, Wolfgang

AU - Gebhardt, Albrecht

AU - Rabung, Sven

AU - Schulz, Holger

AU - Kadur, Jennifer

PY - 2023/2

Y1 - 2023/2

N2 - OBJECTIVE: Due to the coronavirus pandemic and crisis, psychotherapists around the world were forced to switch to video- or tele-based treatments overnight. To date, only a few studies on the effectiveness of video-based psychodynamic psychotherapy via the Internet exist. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to examine symptom improvement, therapeutic relationship, nonverbal synchrony processes, and intersession processes within a systematic single case design and compare face-to-face to video-based approaches in long-term psychodynamic-oriented psychotherapy.METHODS: We examined 85 sessions of a client with major depression whose psychodynamic psychotherapy changed from a face-to-face setting to a video-based setting. Video recordings were analyzed using motion energy analysis, and nonverbal synchrony was computed using a surrogate synchrony approach. Time series analyses were performed to analyze changes in symptom severity, therapeutic relationship, and intersession processes.RESULTS: The results showed that symptom severity improved descriptively, but not significantly, across the entire course of psychotherapy. There were significant differences, however, in the therapeutic relationship, intersession experiences, and synchronous behavior between the face-to-face and video-based settings.CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the presented methodology is well situated to investigate the question whether psychodynamic psychotherapy in video-based setting works in the sameway as in a face-to-face setting.

AB - OBJECTIVE: Due to the coronavirus pandemic and crisis, psychotherapists around the world were forced to switch to video- or tele-based treatments overnight. To date, only a few studies on the effectiveness of video-based psychodynamic psychotherapy via the Internet exist. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to examine symptom improvement, therapeutic relationship, nonverbal synchrony processes, and intersession processes within a systematic single case design and compare face-to-face to video-based approaches in long-term psychodynamic-oriented psychotherapy.METHODS: We examined 85 sessions of a client with major depression whose psychodynamic psychotherapy changed from a face-to-face setting to a video-based setting. Video recordings were analyzed using motion energy analysis, and nonverbal synchrony was computed using a surrogate synchrony approach. Time series analyses were performed to analyze changes in symptom severity, therapeutic relationship, and intersession processes.RESULTS: The results showed that symptom severity improved descriptively, but not significantly, across the entire course of psychotherapy. There were significant differences, however, in the therapeutic relationship, intersession experiences, and synchronous behavior between the face-to-face and video-based settings.CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the presented methodology is well situated to investigate the question whether psychodynamic psychotherapy in video-based setting works in the sameway as in a face-to-face setting.

U2 - 10.1002/jclp.23411

DO - 10.1002/jclp.23411

M3 - Case report

C2 - 35819447

VL - 79

SP - 277

EP - 295

JO - J CLIN PSYCHOL

JF - J CLIN PSYCHOL

SN - 0021-9762

IS - 2

ER -