ArticleFrontiers in psychology2022
Therapeutic Alliance as Active Inference: The Role of Therapeutic Touch and Synchrony.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Guideline
- Defining Skill in Manual and Manipulative Therapy: Perspectives from Physical Therapists.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Patient-Practitioner-Environment Synchronization: Four-Step Process for Integrating Interprofessional and Distinctive Competencies in Osteopathic Practice-A Scoping Review with Integrative Hypothesis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Context is Complex: Challenges and opportunities addressing contextual factors in manual therapy mechanisms research.International journal of osteopathic medicine : IJOM · 2025Article
- Insights into how manual therapists incorporate the biopsychosocial-enactive model in the care of individuals with CLBP: a qualitative study.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2025Article
- Untouched: understanding the role of touch in obsessive-compulsive disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Active Inference in Psychology and Psychiatry: Progress to Date?Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Analysis of losses in physiotherapy students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a phenomenological approach.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- Friston, Free Energy, and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Digitalized therapy and the unresolved gap between artificial and human empathy.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Article
- It Is Time for a Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation Approach: A Scoping Review on Stomatognathic Diseases in Neurological Disorders.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Psycho-Emotional Well-Being in Caregivers of People with Acquired Brain Injury: An Exploratory Study on the Human Immersion Model during the Omicron Wave.Clinics and practice · 2023Article
- Reconceptualizing Somatic Dysfunction in the Light of a Neuroaesthetic Enactive Paradigm.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The osteopath-parent-child triad in osteopathic care in the first 2 years of life: a qualitative study.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Therapeutic touch and therapeutic alliance in pediatric care and neonatology: An active inference framework.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Article
- Historical Osteopathic Principles and Practices in Contemporary Care: An Anthropological Perspective to Foster Evidence-Informed and Culturally Sensitive Patient-Centered Care: A Commentary.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- "What you feel under your hands": exploring professionals' perspective of somatic dysfunction in osteopathic clinical practice-a qualitative study.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2022Article
- An Enactive-Ecological Model to Guide Patient-Centered Osteopathic Care.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- An Active Inference Account of Touch and Verbal Communication in Therapy.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
Recognizing and aligning individuals' unique adaptive beliefs or "priors" through cooperative communication is critical to establishing a therapeutic relationship and alliance. Using active inference, we present an empirical integrative account of the biobehavioral mechanisms that underwrite therapeutic relationships. A significant mode of establishing cooperative alliances-and potential synchrony relationships-is through ostensive cues generated by repetitive coupling during dynamic touch. Established models speak to the unique role of affectionate touch in developing communication, interpersonal interactions, and a wide variety of therapeutic benefits for patients of all ages; both neurophysiologically and behaviorally. The purpose of this article is to argue for the importance of therapeutic touch in establishing a therapeutic alliance and, ultimately, synchrony between practitioner and patient. We briefly overview the importance and role of therapeutic alliance in prosocial and clinical interactions. We then discuss how cooperative communication and mental state alignment-in intentional communication-are accomplished using active inference. We argue that alignment through active inference facilitates synchrony and communication. The ensuing account is extended to include the role of (C-) tactile afferents in realizing the beneficial effect of therapeutic synchrony. We conclude by proposing a method for synchronizing the effects of touch using the concept of active inference.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.