Nonverbal moments of meeting – an analysis of three psychodynamic therapy sessions

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to empirically enrich the so far theoretically elaborated concept of Moments of Meeting (MoM), that enable processes of change in psychotherapies as described by the Boston Change Process Study Group (2018). In order to describe dyadic verbal and nonverbal patterns in those Moments of Meeting on a microanalytic level, a verbal scenic narrative microanalysis (SNMA) and a nonverbal neuropsychological gesture coding system (NEUROGES) were applied in three single psychodynamic therapeutic sessions. The verbal psychoanalytic-hermeneutic selection of moments of meeting via SNMA showed notable connections to significant nonverbal markers especially in terms of synchronic turn-taking of gestures indicating MoM. Results indicate the importance of including the communicative function of resonant nonverbal behaviour as a facilitator for mutual understanding in the psychotherapeutic setting. Furthermore, the potential of ruptures, and their repair in the dialogue, are discussed as precedents for MoM.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychotherapeutic-process research
• moments of meeting
• nonverbal communication
• video interaction analysis

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Katrin Zellner as an inter-rater for NEUROGES, the participants of the SNMA-rating groups and Andreas Hamburger for his insightful comments on the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Baumgartstiftung.

Notes on contributors

Jasmin Bleimling

Jasmin Bleimling is a Post-Doc researcher at the International Psychoanalytic University in Berlin and a psychoanalyst in training. She wrote her Ph.D. on ‘Countertransference and social trauma – A microanalysis of the scenic memory of the Shoah in Testimonies’ at the University of Munich. Her research interests include trauma and nonverbal interaction.