ArticleInternational journal of methods in psychiatric research2023
Synchrony in psychotherapy: High physiological positive concordance predicts symptom reduction and negative concordance predicts symptom aggravation.
Article in International journal of methods in psychiatric research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Self and Its Intersubjective Synchrony in Psychotherapy: A Systematic Review.Clinical psychology & psychotherapyPooled it
- Toward an Understanding of the Psychological Meaning of Physiological Synchrony.Psychophysiology · 2026Review
- Heart rate synchrony as an objective biomarker in psychotherapy: a wearable-based pilot study.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Predictors of the Effectiveness of Psychedelics in Treating Depression-A Scoping Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Electrodermal synchrony of patient and therapist as a predictor of alliance and outcome in psychotherapy.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Investigating movement synchrony in therapeutic settings using socially interactive agents: an experimental toolkit.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Synchrony in psychotherapy: High physiological positive concordance predicts symptom reduction and negative concordance predicts symptom aggravation.International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTherapeutic alliance is often considered as a predictor for therapeutic success. This study explored dyadic synchrony of skin conductance response (SCR) during naturalistic therapeutic interactions and investigated its potential as an objective biomarker for predicting therapy effectiveness.
methodsIn this proof-of-concept study, skin conductance from both dyad members was continuously measured via wristbands during psychotherapy. Patients and therapists completed post-session reports capturing their subjective appraisal of therapeutic alliance. Additionally, patients completed symptom questionnaires. Each therapeutic dyad was recorded twice in a follow-up design. The first session of the follow-up group was assessed for physiological synchrony (Single Session Index (SSI)). Therapy outcome was captured by the difference between symptom severity scores over time.
resultsSCR synchrony significantly predicted the outcome variable of change in patients' global severity index (GSI). High positive SCR concordance was linked to a reduction in patients' GSI, while negative or small positive SSI values were linked to an increase in patients' GSI.
conclusionThe results demonstrate the presence of SCR synchrony in clinical interactions. Skin conductance response synchrony was a significant predictor for change in patients' symptom severity index, emphasizing its potential as an objective biomarker in the context of evidence-based psychotherapy.
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