Therapist and patient.

A quasi-experimental, between groups design was used to evaluate differences in
emotional behavior, as measured by the Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF),
between professional therapists and their clients and a master therapist and his client.
This coding system also was used to determine how emotional behavior shown by a
master therapist changes over the course of six psychotherapy sessions. The research
team recorded counseling sessions at a university counseling center in the southeastern
United States and coded this video data using SPAFF in real time. Data were analyzed
quantitatively to determine whether significant differences in SPAFF codes exist between
the master therapist, professional therapists at the university counseling center, and their
respective clients. Results indicated that the master therapist showed significantly more
neutral and less negative affect than his counterparts at the university in both sessions one
and four. The master therapist’s client showed significantly more neutral affect and less negative in session one and significantly more positive affect and less negative affect in
session four.

The present study investigates the affectual interaction of three highly competent
therapists using different theoretical approaches with a shared male client and female
client in a professionally recorded video series. The interactions of clients and therapists
in a total sample of six psychotherapy sessions were coded using the twenty code version
of Gottman, Woodin, and Coan’s (1998) Specific Affect Coding System. Coded data
were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis tests which found no significant differences between
the mean ranks of therapists’ codes between therapists. Significant effects among some
affective behaviors were noted in therapists’ codes when compared by client. Coded data
were also used to create mathematical models using ordinary differential equations for
each of the six sessions. Kruskal-Wallis tests did not reveal significant effects in the
mean ranks of the parameters of the mathematical models, and visual similarities and
differences of these models were discussed. Additional analyses were conducted to examine clients’ affective behaviors as well and significant effects were revealed in the
Kruskal-Wallis tests amongst many coded behaviors. The results support the presence of
common factors and similarities in the therapeutic relationship among different
theoretical approaches. The findings also add to the growing body of literature dedicated
to the use of observational coding and dynamic nonlinear modeling in psychotherapy
research. The implications for psychotherapy practice, education, and research are
discussed.