Negative effects or side effects of psychotherapy have received increasing attention in psychotherapy research in recent years. In clinical practice, possible risks and negative effects of therapy must be taken into account in the informing of patients in accordance with the patient rights act. For body-oriented psychotherapy, however, not any empirically findings on possible negative consequences of therapy exist. In view of existing reservations about body-oriented psychotherapy the question is raises of whether this form of therapy has specific adverse effects or these are more severe than in verbal therapy procedures. This question is examined using the example of concentrative movement therapy (CMT), which is an established adjuvant body-oriented group psychotherapy method in in-patient psychotherapy. First results show that negative effects are frequently observed in inpatient CMT group treatment as well as in other psychotherapeutic methods. There is hardly any evidence of a typical risk profile or that this form of treatment is a particular burden for patients compared to other treatments.

 

Resulting publication:

Seidler KP, Grützmacher S, Epner A, & Schreiber-Willnow K. Negative Therapiefolgen körperorientierter Gruppenpsychotherapie am Beispiel der Konzentrativen Bewegungstherapie [Negative effects of body-oriented group psychotherapy using the example of concentrative movement therapy]. Psychotherapeut. 2020;65(4):244-256. DOI

Concentrative movement therapy (CMT) is a psychodynamically oriented method of body psychotherapy, which is used in Germany especially in psychotherapeutic-psychosomatic (rehabilitation) clinics, mainly as group treatment. Even though a number of empirical studies on CMT are already available, many questions about its effect and therapeutic factors are still unanswered. A questionnaire has therefore been developed to help patients evaluate the effects and therapeutic factors of CBT in group setting. Initial results indicate that this questionnaire is sufficiently reliable and factorially valid. It was possible to identify assessment dimensions which, on the one hand, cover KBT-related factors and effects (e.g. positive physical experiences and effects) and, on the other hand, reflect general therapeutic factors (e.g. positive group atmosphere).

The attachment theory describes different strategies how people emotionally and interpersonal manage situations of threat or (inner) distress due to earlier attachment experiences. A distinction is made between a secure, deactivating and hyperactivating strategy and corresponding patterns of secure, insecure-avoiding and insecure-ambivalent attachment. It seems plausible to assume that the attachment style of patients has an influence on their experience and behaviour in psychotherapy. The research group is specifically investigating whether the self-experience of patients in therapy varies depending on their attachment style. The results of a pilot study largely confirm the hypotheses that the self-experience of patients with a secure attachment style is less problematic or more positive than that of patients with an insecure attachment style and that the insecure attachment styles shows different characteristics.

 

Resulting publication:

Seidler KP, Höger D. Hängt das Selbsterleben von Patient*innen in der Psychotherapiestunde mit ihrem Bindungsmuster zusammen [Is the self-experience of patients in the psychotherapy session related to their attachment pattern]? Person 2020;24(2):1-13

Meta-analyses have shown that patients' attachment style is a predictor of success in psychotherapy. Little is known, however, about the processes in psychotherapy with which this is connected. A study by the research group is investigating whether psychiatric patients experience the therapeutic relationship differently depending on their attachment style and can therefore benefit in different ways from day treatment. Initial results show that patients with an insecure attachment style tend to experience the therapeutic relationship congruently with their attachment style, i.e. how this is reflected in their expectations of the therapeutic relationship at the beginning of therapy. Patients with a so-called “partially secure" attachment style tend to have a certain amount of corrective experience in the therapeutic relationship: While they state at the beginning of therapy that they expect hardly any care from their therapist, at the end of therapy they state that they have received a lot of care. Patients with partially secure attachment style who have had this corrective experience in the therapeutic relationship show the strongest improvement in their complaints at the end of the day treatment.