Alliance Formations in Couple Therapy: A Multimodal and Multimethod Study

AbstractThe authors sought to study underlying processes of alliance formation, a multimethod and multimodal research procedure was developed and applied to a 6-minute episode from one couple therapy case. The participants were a couple and two male cotherapists. The interaction was analyzed at the levels of the conversational exchange, bodily postures, and movements, and autonomic nervous system responses. Data were also obtained from stimulated recall interviews and an alliance measure. When there were clear markers of alliance in a dyad’s conversation, markers of nonverbal synchrony (such as posture or movement mirroring, or sympathetic nervous system synchrony) were also observed in one or several modalities. Moreover, markers of nonverbal synchrony were often observed, not only between those who participated actively on the conversational level but also between listeners. These markers of nonverbal alliance served important balancing functions by providing support and maintaining the connection to a ...