Abstract

Hands are, compared to other body parts, the body parts that display the most gestural movements during an interaction and their movement is sensitive to reveal anxiety states. However, psychotherapy research focuses on movement synchrony of different body parts to be an indicator of improved symptoms. The present study investigates symptoms in social anxiety disorder and considers both, individual and simultaneous hand movements. 56 video recordings of 28 patient-therapist dyads with patients with social anxiety at the beginning and in the end of psychotherapy were analyzed. Two independent blind certified raters analyzed the hand movement behavior using the NEUROGES^® analysis system for nonverbal behavior concerning individual movement units and the simultaneous overlaps between the patients’ and therapists’ movement units. Simultaneous overlap change negatively correlated with symptoms (LSAS week eight-measurement, r = −.52; and week 15-measurement, r = −.52; BDI pre-measurement, r = −.54). The patients’ right hand movement at the end of the psychotherapy correlated significantly with therapeutic alliance (HAQ post-measurement; r = .55). Hand movement behavior analysis should be considered in psychotherapy research in combination with movement synchrony as a measurement parameter related to therapeutic process and outcome. Enriching previous findings, this study indicates that simultaneous movement change is related to symptoms and therefore a process-sensitive parameter in psychotherapy.

摘要

与其他身体部位相比，手是在互动过程中表现出最多手势动作的身体部位，它们的动作对揭示焦虑状态很敏感。然而，心理治疗研究侧重于不同身体部位的运动同步，以作为改善症状的指标。本研究调查社交焦虑症的症状，并考虑个人和同时的手部运动。分析了 28 名患社交焦虑症患者在心理治疗开始和结束时的 56 段视频记录。两位独立的盲人认证评估员使用 NEUROGES ^{®分析了手部运动行为}涉及个体运动单元的非语言行为分析系统以及患者和治疗师的运动单元之间的同时重叠。同时重叠变化与症状呈负相关（LSAS 第 8 周测量，r  = -.52；第 15 周测量，r  = -.52；BDI 预测量，r  = -.54）。心理治疗结束时患者的右手运动与治疗联盟显着相关（HAQ 后测量；r  = .55）。在心理治疗研究中应考虑手部运动行为分析，并结合运动同步性作为与治疗过程和结果相关的测量参数。本研究丰富了先前的研究结果，表明同时运动变化与症状有关，因此是心理治疗中的过程敏感参数。